rené vetter
sculpture and 3D work
Caught Dead
plywood, spray paint, wood sealant
2024
Exhibited at the Downtown Artist Cellar takeover show in April 2025, in Malone, NY
On view in the Spaghetti Junction show at the Warehouse Gallery in Syracuse, NY, summer 2025
Caught Dead explores the relationship between nature and humanity, and the human impact on our world. I was inspired by the idea of humanity relying on the natural world for survival, and how we tend to destroy without consideration or empathy. When creating this piece I was thinking about overfishing and pollution, and I thought about the idea of fishing lines bringing up dead fish who had been killed by pollution.
Using a CNC machine I cut out my drawing from plywood, and proceeded to sand and round every edge of the piece. After many rounds of sandpaper, I treated the wood and sealed it, and painted the hook before attaching it all together.
process
Little René
Cardboard, paint, paper, tape, plastic, marker
2024
I created this self portrait of myself as if I was one of those action figures or dolls that you can dress up with accessories and clothes. It includes four different outfits with appropriate props, as well as stands to hold each item up in front of the doll.
Raging René
sculpey, paint, cardboard, foam
2025
Raging René is a self portrait of myself as a collectible blind box figurine. I designed, built armature, sculpted, and painted the figurine, and created a box to make it look like the real thing.
This assignment was an independent study into the material of sculpey and the idea of character.
Mixed Media Characters
found objects, hot glue, scissors
2025
For this assignment I was tasked with creating three distinct characters from found materials. I focused on building volume with my figures, getting inspiration from Nordic creation legend for my cast. These models served as a reference for sculpting the same characters out of clay later.
Materials include: wristwatch, ibuprofen bottle and pills, chicken nugget erasers, cut paper, cut marker caps, soda can, bolt, razor, pencil, earrings, safety pin, cough drops, steel wool, slinky, medication bottle, tape dispenser, crayons, etching tool, balloon
Clay Figures
Sculpey, wire, aluminum foil
2025
Raging René is a self portrait of myself as a collectible blind box figurine. I designed, built armature, sculpted, and painted the figurine, and created a box to make it look like the real thing.
This assignment was an independent study into the material of sculpey and the idea of character.
Character Project Book
2025
Click here to see the full documentation of my work throughout my character creation and clay building class.
figures in plaster
plaster
2024
Beer Washington
Home-brewed beer, bottles, labels, pen
2024
In 2024 I took a class that explored art and it's relationship with food and examined the Fluxus art movement. As part of the class we brewed and bottled our own beer. The class decided on the name "Beer Washington", and we each made labels for our bottles.
