Inspired by natural, poetic, and fairy-tale universes, the surrealist and baroque work of Paryse Martin engages in the logic of dreaming and storytelling. The artist has fun creating work that is both strange and captivating, and the beings that inhabit her marvellous systems exchange inquiring looks with the visitors. Combining drawing, sculpture and installation, the work borrows from craft, folk art, and women’s traditional decorative arts. The adventurous spirit with which she approaches her work emphasizes small gestures, playful strategies and a variety of protocols, adding a dimension of the unexpected. The visitor is invited into a concentrated aesthetic experience that highlights the paradoxes of our existence.

Born in Caribou, Maine (USA), Paryse Martin lives and works in Quebec City. She has a doctorate in art studies and practices from UQAM. During her career, she has presented many exhibitions in Quebec, Canada, the United States, France, Spain and Holland. She has won several public art competitions in Quebec and is currently working on an emblematic sculpture for the City of Quebec (L’arbre au boulet, 2023). Supported for many years by private collectors, public institutions and companies, her works are part of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Desjardins Collection, the National Bank Collection, Claridge, Ivanhoé Cambridge, BLG, the Breda Polytechnic School (Holland), the Museum Commanderie van Sint-Jan (Holland), Library and Archives Canada, Canada Council Art Bank, Méduse Collection, Montreal Public Art Collection, the City of Quebec, Téléglobe Canada, Gabrielle-Roy Library, Laval University, Sherbrooke University and the Basilique de Québec.

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