Nicolas Daubanes
“I invest essential questions: life, death, the human condition and the social forms that shape them. In my last works, the speed, the fragility, the porosity, the ghostly aspect of the images and the materials, transmit the pressure of the past to the crossing of what is going to happen.
My work is long term. It draws a path, a trajectory that tends towards the search for freedom, for release from constraint. I try to experiment with intensity and rigor, I play with danger, mental, visual, physical, to reinforce the creative energy and transmit its strength. I am driven by my history, my own existential questions and by the choice of a permanent and subtle adequacy between form and content.
For example: silicone, the same one that is usually used to restore heritage buildings, transposed, allows to create a new space that visually induces the disappearance of the original wall and suggests a possible escape (Membranes series). In this way, moult and skin are introduced into my subject. The iron filings, used in the drawings, refer to the bars of the prisons, but also to the files which allow the escape. This material, which is dangerous for the eye, is deposited by magnetization, while the slightest penny can make the drawing disappear. What appears is fragile, we must take care of it and know that everything is ephemeral. The concrete loaded with sugar, inspired by the vain gesture of the resistance fighters during the Second World War, corroborates the fleeting, temporary nature of the objects produced in my work. It is a question of seeing before the fall, before the ruin, the vital impulse.
Nicolas Daubanes makes drawings with iron filings.
He considers this state of matter as the symbol of the traces of an escape: by filing the bars of the cell, we will leave the hands covered with filings. These drawings represent prisons, occupied or disused.
The prisons that Nicolas Daubanes draws are all issued from the architectural project of the utilitarian philosopher: Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon. He focuses on some of the buildings that bear witness to this inspiration. All the views are taken from photographs that he made himself, the transition to black and white and the modeling with iron powder allows him to wear out these images without which the prison administration would not allow him.
At times, the artist takes some special architectural prison cites such as stairwells of detention that were installed following the mutinies of the 70s and 80s, gates that complement doors failing in terms of security, surveillance station …
Making these drawings is also an opportunity for Nicolas Daubanes to classify and document all the prisons in which he has worked or simply visited.
Nicolas Daubanes
Born in 1983
Lives and works in Perpignan
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
2017
Les mains sales, Maubert Gallery, Paris
Le batiman et a nous, La Station, Nice
2016
… but that day may never come.Gallery L’isba, Perpignan
The life of dream, Angle art contemporain, Saint Paul Trois Châteaux, Vitrine régionale d’art contemporain, Millau
2015
Go Canny, Martagon Gallery, Malaucène
2014
MURS, French Cultural Center of Freiburg, Freiburg
SABOTAGE, LAKE, Sigean
[Fe]Regional Museum of Contemporary Art of Languedoc Roussillon, Sérignan
(Exhibition in the Museum’s Bookshop, with productions of the inmates of the penitentiary center of Béziers)
2013
The day after the next day, Maison Salvan, Labège
La Tuilerie, License III Workshop, Perpignan
2012
TEMPS MORT, Centre d’art le LAIT, Albi
Fiat Lvx, Question d’art, Bibliothèque universitaire de Perpignan
2009
Put me back on my bike, Atelier Licence III, Perpignan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
Showcase on art, Lafayette Gallery, presented by the Maison Salvan, Toulouse, Parc de la Maison blanche, Marseille
Carried Visions, MAC Arteum, Châteauneuf le Rouge
Si er on the hill, Alba Castle, Alba la Romaine
The meaning of punishment, La terrasse, Nanterre 2015
In Memory, National Archives Museum, YIA ART FAIR hors les murs, Paris
At the time of the drawing, 3rd time, Château de Servière, Marseille
The new guard, photojournalism parenthesis, in resonance with the biennial of Lyon, Lithos contemporary art center, Saint Restitut
Enclosed, deformed, artistic moments at Christian Aubert’s, Paris
Given the black mountain, Maison des mémoires, Carcassonne
DPS 2, La Filature, Mulhouse
Global Snapshot, La Panacée, Montpellier
Con uence: France, Art Center of Sarasota, Florida, USA
La belle échappée, Higher Institute of Fine Arts, Besançon
2014
Time out/out of time, Léonardo Agosti Gallery, Sète
Journey within our current mythologies, Auz’arts, Auzeville
Class consciousness, Lieu Commun, Toulouse
La belle échappée, Contemporary Art Center of the Chateau des Adhémar, Montélimar
The drawing and the object, Mac ARTEUM, Chateauneuf le Rouge
Paper works, Léonardo Agosti Gallery, Sète
1913-2014, Contemporary Art Center, Saint restitut
70 combats pour la liberté, 70 artistes, Le radar, espace d’art actuel, Bayeux -AVOIR 10 + 1, Centre d’art contempo- rain, Saint restitut
IMAGO, Jean Marc Cérino-Nicolas Daubanes, AL/MA gallery, Montpellier
BEYOND, Maubert gallery, Paris
Ingravid, Figueres, Spain
2013
IZI, Frac Languedoc Roussillon, Montpellier
ENTROPIA1: Métapmorphose(s), Walter Benjamin contemporary art center, Perpignan
2012
The passion of the Gurlys (Supervues/Hotel Burrhus), Galerie du tableau, Marseille
Interstice, immersive spaces, Carbone 14, St Ravy municipal gallery, Montpellier
10 years 100% drawings, AL/MA gallery, Montpellier
Matières Grises, M.I.N. (Hors les murs, Lieu Commun, Les sens de l’art), Toulouse
Silence is not oblivion, Nicolas Daubanes – Pablo Garcia, Sit Down Gallery, Paris – A quoi rêvent t-ils ?, Sit Down Gallery, Paris
Mulhouse 012, Biennale of young designers, Mulhouse
2011
Supervues, 3 days at the hotel Burrhus, Vaison la romaine
Ingravid (Showcase), Figueres, Spain
Festival APART, Emerging artists center, St Rémy de Provence
Ones from the Heart, Coiuvent des minimes, Perpignan
Visible I and II, open days of Aldebaran’s residential workshops, Castries
Traverse Video, Centre culturel bellegarde, Toulouse
2010
Weather alert, Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain du Languedoc Roussillon, Sérignan – Nathalie Leroy Fiévé and Nicolas Daubanes, galerie AL/MA, Montpellier
Casanova Forever, Frac Languedoc Roussillon, Forteresse de Salses, Salses
+ si a nity 2010, AFIAC, Fiac 2009
+ si a nity 2009, le Hors, AFIAC, Fiac 2008
How to make a body disappear, Chapel of the penitents, Aniane
PERFORMANCES / VIDEO PROJECTIONS
2017
Video evening, Contemporary Art Center, Istres 2016
2016
Passage pas sage, Paris
Cosa Mangiare, The kitchen art and design center, Negrepelisse
2013
Nuit blanche, “les centers d’art font leur cinema”, Paris
2012
Video art evening 2, Espace o25rjj, Loupian
Carte Blanche to Nicolas Daubanes, Institut Jean Vigo, Perpignan
Au Tour, Cinema Le Régent and the St Jacques chapel, contemporary art center of St Gaudens
2011
St Gaudens, Plateau de Beille, 168 km on the road of the Tour, Chapelle St Jacques, contemporary art center of St Gaudens
2010
Having the apprentice in the sun, Performance Café, AFIAC, Fiac
FAIRS / EXHIBITIONS
2017
Independent, presented by the Maubert Gallery, Brussels
2016
YIA Art Fair, presented by the Maubert Gallery, Carreau du Temple, Paris
Drawing Room 016, presented by the AL/MA gallery, La Panacée, Montpellier
Pareidolia, international drawing exhibition, presented by the Maubert gallery, Servière castle, Marseille
2015
Contemporary Istanbul, art fair, presented by Analix forever gallery, Istanbul
2013
Art on paper, Drawing art fair, presented by AL/MA gallery, Brussels -Drawing o , o de Drawing room 013, Li- cence III, Montpellier
Drawing Room 2013, presented by the AL/MA gallery, Carré St Anne, Montpellier
2012
Drawing Room 2012, presented by the AL/MA gallery, Carré St Anne, Montpellier
Salon-Video 5, 10m2 gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia
RESIDENCES
2016
The bbb, Art at the hospital, Toulouse
2014/2015
La Cuisine, at the Montauban prison, Nègrepelisse
2014
La Filature, at the Mulhouse prison and the Ensisheim central prison, Mulhouse 2012/2013
CAN XALANT, Mataro, Spain
2011
Aldebaran, Castries
2008
AFIAC, in the penitentiary center for minors of Lavaur, Lavaur
ACQUISITIONS
2016
Sabotage 4, Parc de la maison Blanche, Town Hall of the 9th and 10th, Marseille
2015
Détenus Particulièrement Surveillés 2, Conseil Général des Bouches du Rhône, “the new collectors in college”.
AWARDS/PRIX
2017
First prize winner Grand prix Occitanie, Lieu commun / Les sens de l’art, Toulouse
2016
Nominated for the “Grand prix de l’art contemporain”, Les sens de l’art / Lieu commun, Toulouse
2014
Individual aid for creation, Languedoc-Roussillon region
2012
Individual aid for creation DRAC Languedoc-Roussillon
Winner of the prize of the French cultural center of the city of Freiburg during the European biennial of young creators of Mulhouse (Mulhouse 012)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Chassis, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2017
The Dream Life, personal monographic edition, 2016
Cosa mangiare, personal edition, 2016
Con uence: France, exhibition catalog, 2015
PLI 4, review, 2015
PLI 3, review, 2015
Le Radar, Espace d’art actuel, 70 combats pour la liberté/70 artistes, Exhibition catalog, 2014
Fireboox, ed. VOICE, 2014
PEAH 21122014, ed. Charlotte Sometimes, 2014
Prisons of Lyon, A manifest history, ed. Places Said 2013
PLI, magazine, 2013
Psychiatric Evolution, review, October-December 2012
The AL/MA 2 talks, ed. Méridianes, Montpellier, 2012
Mulhouse 012, Exhibition catalog, European biennial of young creators, 2012
L’art proxime, Catalogue of the Traverse video festival, 2011
Running against the clock, Week 49.10, Weekly review for contemporary art, ed. Analogues, 2011
Casanova Forever, Exhibition catalog, Frac Languedoc-Roussillon, 2010
+ si a nités, Exhibition catalog, A ac / les Abattoirs, 2010
PRESS
ArchiSTORM, architecture and design, special issue #09, 2016 – ArchiSTORM, architecture and design, #69, 2014
Art views, February/March, 2014
Flash, the monthly magazine, Toulouse Culture et Loisirs, June, 2013
Parcours des Arts, the art magazine of the south west, number 34, 2013
Next Liberation, silence is not oblivion, October 2012
Arthebdo Média, interview with Jackie Ruth Meyer, director of the LAIT art center, Albi
Flash, le mensuel, Toulouse Culture et Loisirs, January 2012 -Art Absolument n°42
– Parcours des Arts, la revue d’art du sud ouest, issue 28 -Next Liberation, Festival Apart, summer 2011
TRAINING
2012
DNSEP at master level, with congratulations of the jury, HEART Perpignan 2010 – DNSEP, with congratulations of the jury, HEART Perpignan
2008
DNAP, with congratulations of the jury, HEART Perpignan
