| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Braxton Garneau is a visual artist based in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). He holds a BFA from the University of Alberta and has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta (2024), GAVLAK in Los Angeles (2023) and Stride Gallery in Calgary (2021), and at Efraín López in New York, NY (2024). His work was featured in group exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta (2021), the Mitchell Art Gallery in Edmonton (2020), and Château Cîroc in Miami, Florida (2021).
Garneau’s work has bee acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through the Northern Trust Purchase Prize at EXPO Chicago, and in 2024 he was awarded the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award. In 2025, Garneau was accepted into the International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, NY.
With a focus on painting, sculpture, printmaking and installation, Garneau’s practice is rooted in materiality, costuming and transformation. Working in-between cultures, he combines visual influences from classical and contemporary forms with material investigations to consider cultural, social and historical implications. Garneau is interested in what he refers to as “material honesty,” or the idea that the use of living matter can imbue work with their essence and power. Exploring and exploiting the physical qualities of materials, Garneau works with harvested and hand-processed mediums including asphalt, raffia, cotton, linen, sugarcane pulp, bones and shells. His work investigates transformation through both natural cycles and the inherent human tendency for adornment, costuming and masquerade. Connecting materials, customs and clothing, Garneau explores the ability of the natural world, and of the people in it, to adapt and transmute to whatever circumstances they may find themselves in.
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