Michel de Broin
About
Michel de Broin deepens his artistic practice by exploring the intersections between circulation systems, functional and crafted objects, as well as invisible materialities. His works disrupt established logics of use, revealing the tensions between technical efficiency and the inherent fragility of the structures he interrogates.
By manipulating materials and objects, de Broin extracts their latent potential, transforming them into hybrid and repurposed entities that generate new meanings. Through a reevaluation of norms, he highlights the dynamics of energy flows, cycles of transformation, and resistance, conveying porous contradictions that invite reflection.
His work engages matter as a vector of complex interrelations, where emptiness, excess, and residue act as active forces. These elements enable a rethinking of the porosity between notions of form and formlessness. Michel de Broin thus explores systems in their contingency, their potential for failure, and their breaking points, where objects transcend their primary utility to become spaces for poetic and critical speculation.
His work has been exhibited at the Biennale de Lyon, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; the Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne; France; the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; the Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg; the Museum Tinguely, Basel; the Centre d’art Villa Arson, Nice; at Eyebeam, New York; and at the Hessel Museum of Art, New York. His work is held in several museums and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada; the Art Gallery of Ontario; the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; the City of Montreal; the FRAC Poitou Charentes, France; and the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Germany.
His public art works and commissions include Dendrites, 2017, Montreal; Threshold, 2017, Montréal; Interlude, 2016, Québec city; Bloom, 2015, Calgary; Possibilities, 2012, Mississauga; Interlace, 2012, Changwong; Majestic, 2011, New Orleans; Revolution, 2010, Rennes; Arch, Montréal, 2009; La maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel, 2009, Paris; Overflow, 2008, Toronto; Encircling, Christchurch, 2006; Shared Propulsion Car, 2005, New York and 2007, Toronto; Révolutions, 2003, Parc Maisonneuve-Cartier, Montréal.
Recipient of the 2007 Sobey Art Award, de Broin has also received grants from Canada Council for the Arts, the Harpo Foundation (Los Angeles) and Krasner-Pollock Foundation (New York), and was awarded a residency at International Studio and Curatorial Program (New York), the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Acme studio (London) and Villa Arson(Nice).
He is represented by the Galerie Blouin Division, Montreal.