Nicolas Momein

Nicolas Momein, born in 1980 in Saint-Étienne, lives and works in Paris. As a first step, he trained as an upholsterer. Then, he resumed his studies and graduated from the École Supérieure d’art et de design de Saint Etienne in 2011 and from the Haute École d’Art et Design de Genève (HEAD) in 2012.

Nicolas Momein’s work is built between sculpture and painting. He creates objects or paintings with hybrid forms, sometimes realistic, sometimes organic, often diverted from their primary use or in metamorphosis. The materials he uses are also chosen for their properties (relation to the evocation of past memory of an artist, link to the artisans, to the nature) and here too, taken away from their initial vocation: bulgomme, rubber, horsehair, rock wool, soap, salt, vintage towels… these elements often enter before and after their first exhibition in a process of recycling and exchange.

For its 2023 edition, Private Choice presents a light called Bump the Lamp. The “Bulgomme” fabric (evocation of his childhood), is generally used as a tablecloth, stain-resistant, shock-resistant. The bronze casting produced in close collaboration with the foundryman, finely reproduces these patterns of folds but also the octagon alveoli of the rubber fabric are almost psychedelic. The organic forms of the sculptures seem to protect the radiation from the light source.

Presentation based on a text by Pascale Le Thorel for ColAAb.