Frank & Eileen: Your ballerinas are so specific and so personal. Where did they come from?

René: It wasn't my intention to paint ballerinas, necessarily. I consider myself an abstract figurative painter, and the figures are female because my entire perspective on the world is as a female. But about ten years ago, a collector of mine—a composer—created five original scores inspired by five of my paintings. His daughter-in-law was a choreographer, and they built an entire performance around the work. I watched professional dancers talk about how my paintings made them breathe, how they inspired a particular way of moving. And at the end of it, I looked down at all their feet. They were rough. That suffering for something you love…that strength and will and purpose…I think it changed the work forever.

Frank & Eileen: Why Famous Denim? Why was that the right canvas?

Audrey: Famous Denim is already perfectly imperfect before you do a single thing to it. Every piece is hand-distressed, hand-processed — no two are exactly alike. It gets better with every wash. It looks lived-in the moment you put it on. When I thought about René's work—every mark is deliberate and every figure finished exactly when she says it's done—I thought, that's the same sensibility. The wrinkles, the texture, the hand-ground edges. It's a shared language. What a perfect canvas for René to paint her ballerinas on.

Frank & Eileen: You've talked about "perfectly imperfect" being at the heart of your work. What does that really mean to you?

René: Get up close to one of my paintings and you'll see all of it—the marks, the scars, the things that have shaped that being. And it's still beautiful. More beautiful, actually. That's the message in everything I make: don't judge a book by its cover. Get in there and look closer. The imperfections are what make it real. To me, that is what we are as human beings. The marks are there. The scars are there. All the things that have shaped that being, and it's still beautiful. Audrey puts it the same way when she talks about Frank & Eileen.

Frank & Eileen: Audrey designs for women specifically and intentionally—every curve, every collar, every detail. Do you think painting as a woman brings something different to the work?

René: All I care about is doing good work. That's always my focus. But yes, my figures are female because my entire experience of the world is as a female. That's not a statement, it's just the truth of where everything comes from. I have a style that's completely my own. I don't know anyone who paints the way I paint, or approaches the work the way I do.

Frank & Eileen: What's the first thing you're going to do when you see someone walking down the street in one of these shirts?

René: I genuinely don't know. I can't even picture it yet. But I'll probably call my mother. Because the very first hand-painted shirt Audrey ever asked me to make? It was a gift for hers.