René CONCEPCION (PHI)
Olympian Artist – Collage: Paris 2024
René Concepcion was born in San Francisco, California, but was raised and had lived a majority of his life in the Philippines.
He learned to swim at a very young age, taught by his mother at their home pool. The years training and competing in the U.S. led to achieving All-American honors, then intercollegiate swimming at the University of California, Berkeley, and of course, the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
Art has always been an integral part of René's life, initially through film. He has a Master in Fine Arts degree from Columbia University with a film directing concentration.
René is a happy husband to Tricia, and they have two wonderful sons Pablo and Rory. Both their children are the key to Rene's current artistic endeavors with Pablo showing great talent as an illustrator that Rene pursued the visual arts to be aligned with Pablo. Meanwhile, Rory (who is a child with Down Syndrome) has influenced Rene's artistic intentions completely.
ARTISTIC PROJECT
Beyond the Box, 2024
Host City, 2024
Producer, 2024
Courage, 2024
Slides and Ladders, 2024
Questions and answers
What parallels do you see between the practice of sport and art?
Even when I was a very young swimmer, my mindset already was that my races were artistic. Competitions were like a stage performance, something to be seen, to be inspirational, and to be beautiful. My best performances were transcendent, that when you are in a zone you don't even realize how it happened, you just raced and the results felt fantastic. Sometimes I look at my own art works and I am surprised that that particular painting is actually mine because I'm wowed by the piece ("Did I really do that?") - so an athlete and an artist long to return to that transcendent feeling, therefore, we keep swimming or painting.
How are both of these endeavours important to you?
Even if swimming may seem like an individual sport, I totally believe swimming is a team sport. I saw myself as part of a team and my contribution was always to uplift our team, most importantly the national team. I was representing my country (the Philippines), and so my efforts were always to make my country proud. I started doing art at a more micro but far more important level - for my family. Not in a financial sense, but in creating an environment of creativity and imagination within our household. My first son is an incredibly talented illustrator and I want him to see the possibilities of making art. My second son is a special needs child and I want him to realize "daddy's art" (these are his words) can be magical.
To you personally, what does being an Olympian mean – how does it define your approach to life and how you view yourself and the world?
I was asked this question the other night and my standard answer is that I am just a regular guy. But deep down, my OLY label provides me the drive to reach higher. The real world often gets in the way, but Olympians find a way. I may not always succeed, but I always try till somehow I know I've contributed something significant to my community.
meet the artists
Olympian Artists at Paris 2024
