Nicolas Grenier (b. 1982, Montreal, CA) is interested in the skewed relationships between political, economic, cultural and social systems that we endure and in the principles – or lack thereof – that underlie them. His work takes these issues out of the theoretical and philosophical realm and into the physical. He mostly creates paintings and architectural installations but also drawings, digital images and art books. His work is both analytical and poetic. Nicolas Grenier combines architecture with psychedelic renderings, texts with geometric abstractions and diagrams with colour fields. He divides his time between his hometown of Montreal and Los Angeles.
This experimental housing concept integrates the social class pyramid into one single building. Tenants who live off state support are housed free of charge on the ground floor and above them increasingly better-off social classes are placed, each time paying the rent of the class below them. It provides opportunities for social integration and upward mobility.