Artist Bio
Lives and works in Montreal and in Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Canada.
Paul Grégoire's ongoing research work led him to adopt a head-on approach to several disciplines directly or indirectly linked to visual arts. Although painting is the mode of expression Paul Grégoire has favored since 2015, his sustained practice of sculpture, installation, performance, video, music, literature, and osteology continuously feeds and influences his pictorial universe.
From 1970 to 2005, his artistic cursus thereby mainly translated itself into sculpture and installation work. He presented solo exhibitions in several contemporary art galleries and museums in Québec and took part in sculpture symposiums. He has received many grants from the Canada and Québec Councils for the Arts.
In 1980, he was also engaged in a saxophonist and singer’s career where music, theatre, and artistic performance meet. In the mid-1990s, performance became a recurrent feature of his approach. He was invited to different action art festivals in Japan, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and Québec. Moreover, he organized the international performance event «Déranger l’espace» that took place in Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, from 2001 to 2005.
Literature-wise, he has been the author of a column in the art magazine ESSE for 10 years. He has also published four novels, a collection of true anecdotes, and, recently, an autobiographical graphic story.
In the early 2000s, Paul Grégoire developed a more sustained practice of osteology that influenced more precisely his aesthetic preoccupation. Since he reassembled many mammal skeletons, including a sperm whale that can be seen in the entrance hall of the Musée de la Mer in Îles-de-la-Madeleine, it is through painting that this new source of inspiration mostly materialized. He showed his works in solo exhibitions and also in many international online galleries and magazines.