Nicolas Dubreuille

After his studies in graphic design in Bordeaux, Nicolas Dubreuille moved to Dublin, in 1999 at the age of 23: then worked as a graphic designer for a Whisky company. As a self-made artist, he spent more and more time drawing and he discovered, during a several months trip to Asia and Oceania, the use of clay in New Caledonia. Back to Europe in 2002, he moved to Milan and decided to fully dedicate himself to ceramic. He had his first solo exhibition at the Cultural Area Frida.

A new trip to Asia helped him deepen and personalize his work. Living close to Bordeaux since 2004, he has produced, in the first place, ceramics, associating a shape with a drawing. Searching for more freedom in the way to express himself, he has slowly started giving up clay to prioritize a new material: resin. It allows him to shape his drawings the way he really wants.

"Je marche sur la tête" (Walking on my head) is the title of a sculpture in coloured resin by Nico which speaks for itself. Having first studied graphic design, Nico turned his attention to sculpture in the year 2000 and has since developed his own personal style, both playful and unconventional, but nevertheless part of art history. His lacquer-coated resin sculptures or acrylic drawings on rice paper bring to mind celebrated contemporary artists such as Arp, Brancusi, Calder, Etienne-Martin, Moore, Smith, etc.

They are also reminiscent of Bertrand Lavier's Walt Disney Productions or could relate to minimalism, pop art and free figuration. Nico's inventiveness, his way of opening doors between these different paths, between abstraction and figuration, concept and expression, stands for creative and outstanding art. Matrix, geometric, biomorphic and totemic forms all encased within each other, the sculptures are reminiscent of individuals, animals, habitats and architectures.

The sculptural elements consist of modules or solid and curved forms with smooth surfaces. They are brought to light with monochrome and vivid, luminous colours: yellows, reds, blues, greens… These artificial, industrial colours, similar to those of sugared sweets, appear as synthetic as the resin Nico uses to build the structures and as the objects mass-produced by our consumer society which are similar to these unique sculptures.

Nearly always pierced with holes, holes/eyes (we walk on our head but we look, see, and can be seen), holes/sexual (we are reminded of the symbolism of rings), elevations or rounded forms, the sculptures are reminiscent of untold stories (most of the time they don't have a title). With Nico's sculptures, you have to go beyond the evenness of his three-dimensional art, look through the other side and try to walk on your head.