Dominique Blain

Dominique Blain is a Canadian visual artist born in Montréal in 1957. Her work explores history, collective memory and socio-political issues. Through installations, photography and mixed-media works, she examines subjects such as war, colonialism, racism and power relations. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions internationally. She lives and works in Montréal, Canada.

Education

• 1996 – Film Studies, New York Film Academy, New York, USA

• 1976–1979 – Bachelor of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada

  Solo Exhibitions

  • 2022 – Drift, Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall, The Image Centre, University of Toronto, Canada.

  • 2021 – Displacements, Château de Chambord, France.

  • 2020 – Displacements, Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, France.

  • 2019 – Displacements, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France.

  • 2018 – Fields of Memory, Métis-in-Montreal, Reford Gardens and Château Ramezay, Montréal, Canada.

  • 2015 – Blackout, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

  • 2013 – Blancs de mémoire (Memory Blank), Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran, Montréal, Canada.

  • 2013 – Dominique Blain: Mindscapes, Volta NY, New York, USA.

  • 2012 – Missa, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.

  • 2009 – Europe année 0, Musée de l'Europe, Wrocław, Poland.

  • 2008 – Europe année 0, Musée de l'Europe, Brussels, Belgium.

  • 2007 – Dominique Blain, Nickle Art Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

  • 2006 – Dominique Blain, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

  • 2006 – Territoires, Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada.

  • 2005 – Dominique Blain, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

  • 2004 – Dominique Blain, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 2004 – Monuments, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 2002 – Dominique Blain, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

  • 2001 – Dominique Blain, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

  • 2001 – Fragments of Unity, McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada.

  • 2000 – Inscape, University Art Gallery, San Diego, California, USA.

  • 2000 – Dominique Blain, Montréal Télégraphe, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1999 – Bearing Witness, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

  • 1998 – Médiation, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

  • 1998 – Médiation, Sala 1, Rome, Italy.

  • 1998 – Dominique Blain, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.

  • 1998 – Chorus, The Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, England.

  • 1998 – Dominique Blain, Photographers' Gallery, London, England.

  • 1997 – Island, site-specific installation, Orchard Gallery, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

  • 1997 – Chorus, site-specific installation, Sur l'expérience de la ville, Centre d'art Optica, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1997 – Dominique Blain, Arnolfini, Bristol; Zone Gallery / Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne; Cambridge Darkroom; Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, UK and Northern Ireland.

  • 1997 – Médiation, Ansel Adams Center, San Francisco, California, USA.

  • 1996 – Dominique Blain, Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, USA.

  • 1995 – Inner Sanctum, Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA.

  • 1995 – Dominique Blain, Western Gallery, University of Bellingham, Washington, USA.

  • 1995 – Dominique Blain, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

  • 1995 – Dominique Blain, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

  • 1994 – Dominique Blain, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, USA.

  • 1994 – Dominique Blain, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta, and UBC Fine Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

  • 1994 – Dominique Blain, Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

  • 1993 – Suspended Beliefs, Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA.

  • 1993 – The Primitive Room, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas, USA.

  • 1992 – Dominique Blain, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie, Paris, France.

  • 1992 – Missa, Centre international d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1991 – The Primitive Rooms, Meyers/Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA.

  • 1990 – Dominique Blain, Meyers/Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA.

  • 1990 – Dominique Blain, Galerie Christiane Chassay, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1989 – Dominique Blain, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

  • 1987 – Dominique Blain, Galerie Christiane Chassay, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1985 – Peaces, Studio 701, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

  • 1984 – Dominique Blain, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France, and Rome, Italy.

    Selected Group Exhibitions

    
    

    2025

    The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts 2024

    1985. Mondes-images, VOX centre de l'image contemporaine, Montreal, Canada

    Actions collectives:Regards féministes sur la collection, Musée d'art de Joliette, Canada

    2024

    Inventaire d'une collection, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montréal, Canada

    Outside the lines, Canadien War Museum, Ottawa, Canada

    Poetics of dissonance, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

    2023

    The permanent collection: What the bat knows. Mackensie Art Gallery,Regina, Saskatchewan

    2022

    Latent energies, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, curator Anne-Marie Bouchard.

    Dialogues dans le temps, Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada, curator Jocelyne Fortin.

    2021

    Tribune(s), Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada, curator Ève De Garie-Lamanque

    2020

    Unapologetic: All Women, All Year, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

    Image…sent, Canadian Culturel Center Paris, France, curator Catherine Bédard

    Mending, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montreal, Canada

    2019

    Untitled / Protection, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Canada.

    Water Event – Yoko Ono, Fondation Phi pour l'art contemporain, Montréal, Québec. Canada

    2018

    Uprisings, Galerie de l'UQAM and Cinémathèque québécoise, exhibition organized and circulated by Jeu de Paume, Paris. Curator: Georges Didi-Huberman

    Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? National Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Canada

    2017

    Woman and her world, Montréal Contemporain Art Museum Montréal, Canada, curator Marie-Eve Beaupré

    2016

    Installations on a large scale, National Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Canada curator Bernard Lamarche

    Contemporain Art in Québec, Collection Guide, National Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec , curators Eve-Lyne Beaudry et Marie Fraser

    2015

    The post-photographic condition, International Biennial of Contemporary Image, Canada, presented at the gallery Parisian Laundry, Montréal, curator Joan Fontcuberta

    2014

    Résistance, Manif d'art- Biennale de Québec, Canada

    The Grace of a Gesture,  Montréal Contemporary Museum, Canada

    2013

    À Montréal, quand l'image rôde, Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing (France), curator Louise Déry.

    TBA, galerie antoine ertaskiran, Montréal (Canada).

    2012

    10 ans d'urgence, ATSA et Conseil des arts de Montréal, travelling exhibition, Québec

    2011

    Lie to me, Galerie ArtMûr, Montréal, Canada.

    2010

    Ces artistes qui impriment, Grande Bibliothèque et Centre d'archives de Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Femmes artistes, l'éclatements des frontières, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    2009

    Europa: to nasza historia, Musée de l'Europe, Wroclaw, Poland

    2008

    Signals in the Dark: Art in the Shadow of War, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto, Ontario;

    Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Sous le signe de l'audace, Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec, Canada.

    Moral Fibres: Textiles from The Nickle Collections, Nickle Art Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

    2007

    Subversive Moves, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Idaho, United-States.

    C'est notre histoire, Musée de l'Europe, Brussels, Belgium.

    2006

    Madame Chose, Commissaires, Montréal, Canada

    2005

    Cynismes ?, La Manif d'art 3 de Québec, Québec, Canada.

    Vox populi, Musée de la civilisation du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    2003

    Are you talking to me?, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montréal, Québec; Moncton University Gallery, Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada.

    Doublures, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    L'école des femmes, Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec, Canada.

    2002

    Animal de compagnie, Galerie Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Le corps et ses absences, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    L'art en marche, Bibliothèque et archives du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

    Les siècles de l'image, Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec, Canada.

    2001

    De l'humain dans la collection, Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada.

    La nature des choses, Centre d'exposition du Vieux-Palais, St-Jérome, Québec, Canada.

    La transparence du réel ou l'engagement, Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada.

    2000

    The New Republic, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Victoria, Australia; Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada.

    La nature des choses, commissaire : Nathalie de Blois, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    The Fashion Statement, Galerie Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    La transparence du réel ou l'engagement, Musée régional de Rimouski, Québec, Canada.

    1999

    El cos, la llengua, les paraules, la pell, Centre d'Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain.

    Beyond the Print, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts, Arizona, United States.

    The New Republic, Canada House Gallery, London, England.

    Double Trouble, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Redefining the Still Life: Selections from the Permanent Collection / La nature morte : nouveau regard, oeuvres tirées de la collection permanente, Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Université Concordia, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Espaces Intérieurs, Passage de Retz, Paris, France.

    1998

    Double Trouble, The Patchett Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museo de Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexique; Museo Universitario Contemporaneo de Arte, Mexico, Mexique.

    Trames de mémoire, Charles Scott Gallery, Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique,Canada; Oakville Galleries, Oakville et Mount St-Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, Canada.

    Monumental Propaganda, Kennisaw State University, Georgia, United States.

    Survey Results Show, Rodman Hall Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada.

    1997

    Dominique Blain, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona,United States.

    Présences, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Monumental Propaganda, The Helsinski City Art Museum, Finland.

    Survey Results Show, Oakville Galleries, Ontario; Nickles Arts Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

    1996

    Trames de mémoire, Centre Expression, Sainte-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.

    Monumental Propaganda, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Design, Kansas City, Missouri; Muckenthaler Art Center, Fullerton, California,United States.

    Monumental Propaganda, Muckenthaler Art Center, Fullerton, Californie, États-Unis.

    Heaven, Articule, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Thinking, Walking, Thinking, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Danemark.

    Some Grids, Los Angeles County Museum, California,United States.

    1995

    Notion of Conflict, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Monumental Propaganda, Dunlop Art Gallery, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Monumental Propaganda, Smithsonian Institution International Gallery, Washington,United States.

    Vested Power: Icons of Domination and Transcendence, Visual Arts Center,California State University, Fullerton,United States

    Issues of Empire, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, California, United States.

    1994

    Breda Fotograpfica '94 / Los Angeles Mind Quakes, Klooster Kazerne, Breda, Pays-Bas.

    Le lieu de l'être, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    Monumental Propaganda, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia; AI Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia; Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovénia.

    1993

    Temporal Borders- image and site, Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

    Iconography of Horror: Airwar and Art, Documenta Hall, Kassel, Germany.

    Rendez-vous manqués 3, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie, Paris, France.

    Addressing the Body, commissaire : Jeanne Meyers, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco; Patricia Shea Gallery, Santa Monica, California, United States.

    Monumental Propaganda, Courtyard Gallery, World Financial Center, Battery Park, New York,United States; Contemporary Art Museum, Moscow, Russia.

    Memories, Facts and Lies, Blum Helman Gallery, New York, United States.

    Prospect 93, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Francfort; Kunsthalle Francfort, Germany.

    Re-Thinking Columbus: Contemporary Artist's Views in The Columbian Quincentenary:A Reappraisal, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California,United States.

    1992

    The Boundary Rider, Sydney Biennale, Australia.

    Les cent jours d'art contemporain, Montréal, Canada.

    LAX: The Los Angeles Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California,United States.

    Trans-Voices, métro de New York, New York Public Art Fund, New York, United States.

    Trans-Voices, métros de Paris, Whitney Museum American Center à Paris, Paris, France.

    Art actuel. Présences québécoises, Marne-la-Vallée, France, La Ferme du Buisson et Château Biron, France.

    Pour la suite du monde, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    1991

    Silent Interiors, Security Pacific Gallery, Seattle, Washington, United-States

    Dominique Blain – Eva Brandl – Sylvie Blocher, Centre d'Art Contemporain Passages, Nice, France

    Goya to Beijing, Art Gallery of Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique, Canada.

    Working Truth, Powerful Fiction, MacKenzie Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

    Un Archipel de Désirs, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.

    1990

    Savoir-Vivre, Savoir-Faire, Savoir-Être, Cent jours d'art contemporain, CIAC, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Systems, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California, United States.

    Silent Interiors, Security Pacific Bank, Seattle, United States.

    1989

    Fictions, Aéroport international de Montréal, Mirabel, Québec, Canada.

    Idiosyncratic Perspectives, Meyers Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California,United States.

    Les cent jours d'art contemporain, Cité de l'image, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

    Montréal-Berlin, Hochschule der Kunst, Berlin, Germany.

    1985

    Écrans Politiques, Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal, Canada

     

    AWARDS AND HONOURS

  • 2024 – Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, Canada Council for the Arts.

  • 2016 – Opus Award – Concert of the Year, Montréal, for the opera The Trials of Patricia Isasa.

  • 2014 – Paul-Émile-Borduas Award, Prix du Québec.

  • 2014 – Artists for Peace Honour Award (Prix hommage Artistes pour la paix).

  • 2009 – Les Elles de l'Art Award, Pratt & Whitney, in association with the Conseil des arts de Montréal.