Note of the Artist

Upon invitation to reflect on the notion of transparency, that led me into the forest to envelop the contour of a large stone with fragments of mirror. The large stone, tucked away deep in the woods, became a reflective surface for its surroundings. In this play of splintered radiance, the rock disappears in its reflections. Because it reflects one cannot be mislead by its presence, yet we cannot seize it, rather it is the rock that reflects us.

Michel de Broin

Born in 1970 in Montreal, Michel de Broin lives and works in Montreal and in Berlin.
Through a collection of objects and actions, his works seek to escape the constraining nature of modern utopian aspirations whilst attempting to reenact them in playful, jesting objects that glorify the referent on the one hand while upstaging it on the other.
Drawing on his doubt in the capacity and value of ideas, his sculptural projects seek to put them to the test by literally confronting them with the necessities of reality in assemblage that often troubles the ideas it purports to speak for.

His most recent solo shows include Reciprocal Energy at the the Mac/Val (Vitry-sur seine, Paris, 2008), The National Gallery of Canada ( Ottawa, 2006 and 2007), Musée national des beaux arts du Québec (Québec City, 2006), PSWAR (Amsterdam, 2007), Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2006), Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin, 2005), La Bf15 (Lyon, 2005), Galerie Pierre-François Ouellette (Montreal, 2005), La Vitrine (Paris, 2004) and Villa Merkel, (Esslingen, Germany, 2002).
De Broin has also been part of many group exhibitions in Canada, Europe and United States, among them Villa Arson (Nice 2008), Berlinische Galerie (Berlin, 2007), Plug In (Winnipeg, 2006), Haus Am Waldsee (Berlin, 2006), Kunstverein Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, 2006), Christian Nagel (Berlin, 2005), Exit Art (New York, 2005), Fototeka (Havana, Cuba, 2004), The 11th Biennial of Visual Arts (Pancevo, Serbia, 2004), Museum of Contemporary Canadien Art (Toronto, 2003), Optica (Montreal, 2003), Gallery 44 (Toronto, 2003), Kunsthaus Baselland (Muttenz, Switzerland, 2000), Center for Curatorial Studies (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 1998).
His work has been reviewed in Parachute (Montreal), Artpress (Paris), Technickart (Paris), Semaine (Arles, France), Espace (Montreal), Esse (Montreal), C-Magazine (Toronto), Border Crossing (Winnipeg).

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