Bio
Nicolas Grenier is a transdisciplinary artist based in Tio'tia:ke / Montreal, who explores themes of social order transformation and paradigm shift. His practice includes traditional media such as painting and drawing, as well as installations, performances, economic experiments, surveys and data visualization. He holds a BFA from Concordia University, an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and attended residencies at ZK/U Center for Arts and Urbanistics (Berlin), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (ME), the Saas-Fee Summer institute of Art (Berlin) and the Banff Center. His work has been exhibited at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Power Plant (Toronto), the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, Gagosian Gallery (Athens), Denny Dimin Gallery (Hong Kong), the Bruges Triennial of Art and Architecture (Belgium), Commonwealth & Council (Los Angeles) and Union Gallery (London). His work is collected by the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Caisse de Dépôt du Québec, the National Bank of Canada, and others. Grenier won the 2016 Prix Pierre-Ayot from the City of Montreal (2016), and was shortlisted for the 2019 Sobey Art Award. He is represented by the Bradley Ertaskiran and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles galleries, and he is currently Artist in Residence at Concordia University.
About my work
Through my research and work, I explore themes of social order transformation, paradigm shift and power dynamics. My practice is transdisciplinary and my works take the form of installations, paintings, readings and participatory projects. I try to create works that give concrete, tangible form to speculative visions that often emerge instinctively after long periods of research. I articulate these visions with as rigorous a systemic specificity as possible, while deploying a visual language that is often atmospheric and enveloping.
My works often combine structural elements, such as diagrams, texts, architectural representations or geometric abstractions, with affective elements, such as gradients, colored light, a progressive shift from one thing to another. I try to create works that offer contemplative experiences, often imbued with language. I'm interested in the possibility of slowing down time, of providing a multidimensional space where complex ideas - from political polarization to the ethics of AI-human relations to post-capitalism - can be explored through the softness of a perceptual experience.