Magalie Guérin
A Bow Down
November 28, 2020 to January 16, 2021
“In March 2020, the city I live in, along with many others around the world, went on lockdown. The studio was a refuge but, unsurprisingly, I couldn’t focus much. It was hard to justify continuing the old paintings as if things were normal because, well, they weren’t. I had to find a different way to engage with the work and that manifested itself as a change in physical stance. Putting my head down to work on small paper on a table felt like the more appropriate body position to tackle the current condition — an absolute bow down”
– Magalie Guérin
Galerie Nicolas Robert is pleased to present A Bow Down, the second solo exhibition of Magalie Guérin with the gallery. Initiated during the lockdown last spring, this new series sets itself apart from her practice with a new, more direct and instant approach, made possible through the use of paper. This comfortable, indulgent and experimental medium allows the artist to change the rhythm and structure of studio work, allowing her to adjust to the new normal of this uncertain and anxious time resulting from the pandemic.
Born in Montreal, Magalie Guérin lives and works in Chicago. In 2011, she received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Recent solo exhibitions were presented at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, London (UK); Chapter NY, New York; James Harris, Seattle; Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago; Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin; and Anat Egbi, Los Angeles. Her work is in the collection of DePaul Art Museum, Hydro-Québec and Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec. She is the author of NOTES ON, a compilation of studio writings published by The Green Lantern Press in 2016. She was recently awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant (2018), a Chinati Foundation residency (2018), and the Stephen Pace Residency Award for a Mid-Career Painter at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (2019).
