Jude Griebel is a Montreal-based painter whose work focuses on the negotiation of identity through images that are drawn from both fictional and biographical contexts. This theme is explored through the depiction of characters in allegorical and supernatural situations, navigating between factual and imagined worlds.  The liminal atmosphere of these works pays tribute to the transitory and mythical settings of picture book illustration, archival spirit photography, and theatrical stage design.  Past projects have involved documenting and illustrating folk mythology and oral narratives that emphasize the convergence of everyday life with the paranormal.    

The costumes and sets of amateur theatre are commonly referenced, in which domestic spaces and humble materials are combined to suggest epic narrative and ritual.  The paintings often employ familiar and nostalgic settings as readymade stage-sets for otherworldly events.  These settings include rooms of houses, backyards and private spaces from the artist's past which elicit dialogue between actual memories and invented narrative.  

In thesee works there is often a tenuous balance between the absence and presence of the figure on both a physical and conscious level.

In a recent catalogue essay, Rory Wallace writes:

"These [works] echo the endless allure of book illustration and the process of reading, not only in the content described above, but also in their technique. As children, and as adults, we return again and again to our favourite illustrated books, reading the accompanying story in pictures, or -better still- making up our own story and playing it out in images. Griebel gives us a similar freedom to imagine within the expansive boundaries of his dramas without the limitations of text.

"The [works] equally resemble old photographs, old enough that the names and occasions are lost and clarity fades around the edges. So we focus intently on the figures, trying to decipher them and their cryptic actions."

Jude Griebel received his bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2003. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. Griebel has recently worked as an artist in residence at Workshop OM in Japan, and at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium. In 2008, he published a book of text and images with the aid of the Canada Council for the Arts, titled Footsteps In the Maucaulay House. Created under the auspices of the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, the book focuses on the alleged haunting of a historic residence in Dawson City, Yukon, and catalogues the rich mythology of stories that have been built up around it.

Griebel is represented by Bau-Xi Contemporary Fine Art in Vancouver and Toronto, Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary, and Cella Gallery in Los Angeles.

Download Jude's CV (Adobe PDF)