Artist

NICHOLAS GRAFIA

Biography

Nicholas Grafia, born in 1990 in Angeles City, Philippines, now lives and works in Düsseldorf and Paris. Grafia graduated in fine arts in 2019 as a master student of Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He previously studied at the Kunstakademie Münster, the School of Arts and Cultures in Newcastle and British, American and Postcolonial Studies at WWU Münster. His works negotiate processes of memory formation and the inclusion and exclusion of subjects in the writing of history. Recent solo exhibitions include: ​Comeback Kid., Silverlens, Manila, 2022; and Free Verse Spirit, Peres Projects, Berlin, 2021. Select group exhibitions and performances at: Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf (2023); Neue Galerie Graz (2023); Halle Nord, Geneva (2023); Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen (2023); Kunsthalle Münster (2023); Shedhalle, Zurich (2022); Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai (2022); CAPC Musée d'art contemporain Bordeaux (2022); nsdoku münchen (2022); Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2022); Smack Mellon, New York (2022); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2022); VBKÖ, Vienna (2022); KIT – Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf (2021); Mudam – The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg (2021); Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin (2021); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2021); 

Nicholas Grafia, Three Faces A Day, 2021, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 160 x 160 cm, 63 x 63 in
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Solo exhibitions

2022    Comeback Kid., Silverlens, Manila, PH
2021    Free Verse Spirit, Peres Projects, Berlin, DE
2021    Soul Burner, KOENIG2 by_robbygreif, Vienna, AT
2020    MVP: Most Valuable Player, The Other Space, Andersen’s, Copenhagen, DK


Group exhibitions and performances

2024    The 7th Wall, curated by Jeanette Bisschops, Alice Amati, London, UK
2023    20 Jahre dHCS-Stipendium, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf, DE
2023    Ridiculously Yours! Art, Awkwardness and Enthusiasm, curated by Jörg Heiser and Cristina Ricupero, Neue Galerie Graz, AT
2023    One kiss is all it takes, Halle Nord, Geneva, CH
2023    Popty Ping, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2023    Peasants, with Mikołaj Sobczak, Kunsthalle Münster, DE 
2023    State of Flux, curated By Jeanette Bisschops, Silverlens, New York, US
2022    Nicholas Grafia, Selma Selman, Mikołaj Sobczak: Protozone9 Weak - End - Opera, Shedhalle, Zurich, CH
2022    RAW, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, CN
2022    Barbe à Papa, curated by Cédric Fauq, CAPC Musée d'art contemporain Bordeaux, FR
2022    TO BE SEEN: Queer lives 1900–1950, nsdoku münchen – Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Munich, DE
2022    THE FAIREST 01: Open Your Eyes Again, Kühlhaus, Berlin, DE
2022    DISSONANCE. Platform Germany, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
2022    You’d Think By Now, curated by Rachel Vera Steinberg, Smack Mellon, New York, US
2022    We Meet at Dusk, curated by Scott Elliott and Daniela Ramos Arias, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, NO
2022    Phantasmatic Riff, curated by Julius Pristauz, UA26, Vienna, AT
2022    Craving Supernatural Creatures, curated by Alexandra-Maria Toth, VBKÖ – The Austrian Association of Women Artists, Vienna, AT
2021    Vordemberge-Gildewart Grant 2021, curated by Gertrud Peters, co-curated by Nantje Wilke, KIT – Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf, DE
2021    Utopia, Peres Projects, Berlin, DE
2021    Mudam Performance Season: The Illusion of the End, with Mikołaj Sobczak, curated by Joel Valabrega, Mudam – The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, LU
2021    Peasants, with Mikołaj Sobczak, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, DE
2021    The Way Out, steirischer herbst 21', Graz, AT
2021    Nicholas Grafia + Mikołaj Sobczak: WILL., GOLD + BETON, Cologne, DE
2021    Pogo Bar: It’s 10PM. Do You know where your children are?, with Mikołaj Sobczak, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE
2021    THE FAIREST – Teaser 01, Blake & Vargas, Berlin, DE
2021    Type / Cast / Thrill., with Sonja Yakovleva, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn, EE
2020    what fruit it bears, Peres Projects, Berlin, DE
2020    Milk Me Sugar, curated by Ewa Tatar, Galeria Arsenal, Bialystok, PL
2020    Protozone: CONTAMINATION/RESILIENCE, Shedhalle, Zurich, CH
2020    Biennale Zielona Góra - Back to the Future, with Mikołaj Sobczak, Zielona Góra, PL
2020    7th Moscow International Biennale For Young Art, Museum of Moscow, RU
2020   Untitled (Molly House), EXILE, Vienna, AT
2020    Ignition Cycle: Ecology of Attention #2, Montag Modus at Alte Münze, Berlin, DE
2020   Who Am I, Mélange, Cologne, DE
2020   side by side, curated by Louisa Behr, Anna Holms and Sofia Steffens, fffriedrich, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2020    Elbow Room, PE VII: Weak Links of a Strong Chain, with Mikołaj Sobczak, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, DE
2020    Body Lotion, Zeller van Almsick, Vienna, AT
2020    In order of appearance, K21 Museum, Düsseldorf, DE
2020    On the Politics of Delicacy, curated by Anke Kempkes, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, DE
2020    Queer Queer Casimir, Salon 14 during Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2020, Warsaw, PL
2019    Jahresgaben 2019, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, DE
2019    I Saw the Devil, Kunsthal Aarhus, DK
2019    HERE AND NOW at Museum Ludwig Transcorporealities, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, DE
2019    Prune, with Cudelice Brazelton, Shoot the Lobster, New York, US
2019    Elbow Room, PE I: Hits Like an Elbow, with Mikołaj Sobczak, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, DE
2019    DISPLAY. Staging Identities, Dortmund Kunstverein, DE
2019    Body Works, State Art Gallery, Sopot, PL
2019    The Theatre of Robert Anton, Tramway, Glasgow, UK
2019    Amitié, curated by Exo Exo at David Giroire, Paris, FR
2019    Undetectable Realness, PS120, Berlin, DE
2018    Fremdkörper. Non-Normative Body and Voice Mapping, Bozar, Brussels, BE
2018    Pride & Prejudice: New Practices of Dignity, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL
2017    Akademie [Arbeitstitel], Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE
2017    Open Triennial, 8th Young Triennale in Orońsko, Centre of Polish Sculpture, Orońsko, PL
2017    The Hardest Word, BLASK/BRZASK, Łódź, PL
2017    ARTAGON.III, Akademie Galerie, Dusseldorf, DE
2017    Meet Me at the Metro Station, Guest Rooms, Amsterdam, NL​


Awards and residencies

2021–2022    Art Explora – Cité internationale des arts residencies, Paris, FR
2021    Fellowship, PACT Zollverein, Essen, DE
2020    Sponsorship Award for Fine Arts of the City of Dusseldorf 2020, Dusseldorf, DE
2019    Travel Grant Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen and Foundation for Art and Culture Sparkasse Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, DE
2019    Malt AIR, Maltfabrikken, Ebeltoft, DK


Collections

Mudam – The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, LU
Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen, DE
K21 Museum, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, DE

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