Nicolas Daubanes
Nicolas Daubanes
Through his drawings, installations and sculptures, Nicolas Daubanes reveals that fragility is deeply linked to the notion of resistance, whether it is through a material facing the wear and tear of time, or through the memory facing the disappearing of beings and their stories. He often takes places of confinement or constraint as a starting point to demonstrate how attempts to impose order and coercion on human expression ultimately fuel ingenuity and creativity.
‘‘In his installations, the artist focuses on narratives of transgression, especially those recounting riots against sanctioned injustices in the interest of easing individual and collective suffering. Daubanes reduces building materials which seem lasting and impermeable – like concrete and iron – to broken fragments and delicate fillings. He uses these raw elements to create drawings, sculptures, or fleeting situations which symbolize both the vulnerability of the human activity and the desire for freedom’’. (Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, curators of the 16th contemporary art Lyon Biennial).
In 2021, Nicolas Daubanes won the Drawing Now Prize. In 2022, he presented a solo show at the Drawing Lab, as well as a large installation at Center Pompidou Metz. Nicolas Daubanes had personal exhibitions in Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020, he won the 2018 Prix des Amis du Palais de Tokyo), in Chateau d’Oiron (2020) and in FRAC PACA (2019). Previously, Nicolas Daubanes exhibited in many institutions such as MONA (Australia), Villa Arson, les Abattoirs (FRAC Occitanie Toulouse), FRAC Occitanie Montpellier, MRAC Sérignan (FR)…
Since 2023 and until 2025, Nicolas Daubanes is carrying out a cycle of residencies and exhibitions at The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud. In 2025, he will present solo exhibitions at the Pantheon and the Musée de l'Armée des Invalides, and is one of the future residents of the Villa Medicis in Rome (2024/25).