Michel de Broin

Michel de Broin (born 1970 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian sculptor. De Broin has created numerous public artworks in Canada and Europe, including the Salvador Allende monument in Montreal. He was the recipient of the 2007 Sobey Art Award.

Life Michel de Broin was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970. He studied studio arts at Concordia University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1995, and at UQÀM where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1997.

Interdisciplinary practice

Since the 1990s, Michel de Broin has developed an interdisciplinary practice that questions the limits of social and technical systems. He often incorporates humour and playfulness in his work, but also critique. Energy and resistance are recurrent themes in his practice. De Broin also uses video, performance, drawing, photography and found objects in his work. Many of the objects he has created consist of a détournement of familiar objects and forms that turn back against themselves to show their internal paradoxes. Conceptual art is a source of inspiration for his practice. For example, in his show "Dangerous Substance" (Matière dangereuse, 1999), he reinterpreted Kasimir Malevitch's famous "black square on white ground".

Main works Shared Propulsion Car consists of a wrecked Buick 1986 car whose engine was replaced by bicycle pedals. It was presented in New York at Exit Art and Toronto at Mercer Union. A Toronto policeman issued a ticket for "Operating an Unsafe Vehicle" to Dean Baldwin, the driver of the pedal car, but the charge was later dismissed in court.

Black Whole Conference consists of a group of chairs attached to each other at the legs to create a sphere. It is part of the collection of the Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne.

La maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel was created for the Nuit Blanche in Paris (2009). It consists of a 26 feet mirror ball made of 1000 mirrors and suspended from a crane 150 feet above the Luxembourg Garden.

Majestic was presented as a satellite project of New Orleans Biennal in 2011. Lamposts blown down by hurricane Katrina were assembled in the shape of a star. The sculpture was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada thanks to a donation by the philanthropists Donald and Beth Sobey.

Public art Bloom, Michel de Broin, St. Patrick's Island, Calgary, Alberta 2015

De Broin's sculpture entitled Bloom, which was inaugurated in August 2015, is "one of the most visible landmarks on Calgary's St. Patrick's Island. The sculpture, which was commissioned by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, is "23 metres-high, with working lights on many of its branches that illuminate its surroundings at night."

Révolutions is a sculpture representing a staircase twisted into a knot. It was installed in 2003 during the renovation of Papineau metro station in Montreal.

Monument is a sculpture installed in a parc of Winnipeg in 2009. It reinterprets the classical theme of drapery by presenting two ghostly characters standing under a sheet.

L'Arc (2009) is a monument commemorating Salvador Allende. It is situated on the île Notre-Dame in Montreal.

Awards In 2006, he received the Prix Reconnaissance UQAM. In 2007, he received the Sobey Art Award.

Selected exhibitions 2013 Solo show at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal 2012 Oh Canada, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, USA 2011 Car Fetish. I drive therefore I am, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Suisse Parking de sculptures, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France 2009 La Maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel, Nuit Blanche, Paris, France Disruption from Within, Plug In, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 2008 Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Énergie Reciproque, Museum of Contemporary Art of Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Acclimatation, Centre d'art Villa Arson, Nice, France 2007 De-con-struction, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Machinations, UQAM Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2006 Michel de Broin; Machinations Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada Reverse Entropy, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany Réparations, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2003 Damage Control, Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2002 Épater la Galerie, Villa Merkel, Esslingen am Neckar, Germany