NICOLAS BAIER, PATRICK COUTU

CHOI&LAGER Gallery is pleased to announce our upcoming exhibition, of two Canadian artists, who both work in sculpture Nicolas Baier and Patrick Coutu, from 16 November through 24 February 2019; presenting new and recent works at our gallery in Cologne.

Both artists are active in Montreal, Canada, a metropole of contemporary art and have been part of the mainstream Canadian art scene.

About Nicolas Baier

Though science has shifted our collective faith from the religious to the empirical, Baier’s work reminds us that our understanding of the universe remains imperfect, hindered by personal biases and reactionary instincts. His recent prints and sculptures use the latest technologies–3D printing, CNC routing, computer farm rendering, etc.–and extensive consultation with astrophysicists, to interrogate our growing reliance on the digital world. Baier’s work is rich with data and research, precision and erudition, yet it is its seductive aesthetic that gives us the greatest sense of reassurance, validating our flawed logic with a false affirmation of our desires.

Baier’s work has been shown at the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. His work resides in the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Harvard Business School’s Schwartz Collection.

About Patrick Coutu

Working in a range of materials, Patrick Coutu explores the imperceptible patterns underpinning organic matter. His bronze-and aluminium-based sculptures originate on his computer, their shapes forged by the various programs he designs, their digital origins mimicking the orderly chaos of vegetal and mineral life.

Rendered in noble metals and treated with nuanced patination, the sculptures recall elements of the natural world such as reefs, gardens, and striated rock. Seen through the lens of technology, the pixel-like units of which they are comprised evoke the rudiments of chemistry and the ones and zeros of the digital realm.

Patrick Coutu lives and works in Montreal. His work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada (2008), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2008), and Musée des Beaux-Arts du Québec (2002).