Daniel Nicolaevsky Maria transdisciplinary artist from Rio de Janeiro whose practice unfolds between painting and movement, installation and performance, exploring and pushing the boundaries of the mediums he questions, in an attempt to exhaust and reinvent their forms. His research articulates questions of social justice and the preservation of biodiversity with historical and fictional myths, constructing narratives where the body, gesture and matter are closely intertwined. Interested in processes of transformation and survival, the artist frequently works with "end-of-life objects", which he collects and reactivates, restoring to them a symbolic and emotional power around the notions of memory, attachment and permanence.
He began his training in 3D visual communication (CGI) and digital media in Brazil, then continued it in France at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he obtained a Master's degree in visual arts in the workshops of Claude Closky and Emmanuelle Huynh. His research explores photography, dance and painting as ways of transcribing the mutations of matter within multimedia projects, combining sound and moving image, as well as curating exhibitions, often in collaboration with other guest artists. Musicians, pianists and dancers, like him, invest spaces of social and imaginary transformation, where the boundaries between disciplines dissolve.
His master's work, From War to Art, is a breathless dance in which he expresses himself through a body in perpetual revolution, questioning his position as a young Black artist underrepresented in the iconography of art history. This research earned him the Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019, and its art film version joined the Seine-Saint-Denis Collection in 2023.
Recent exhibitions: 4 (a)ch/cords at the Festival L'Envers du Décor #8 – Palais de la Porte Dorée, Creative Direction of the Expo Favela Innovation Paris, En Circuits Courts at the Centre d'Art Contemporain Tignous, as well as an annual residency at the Fondation Fiminco, where he deepened his research in contemporary ceramics, oil painting and installation.
His work is part of numerous public and private collections, including the Théâtre de la Concorde, the Montreuil Municipal Contemporary Art Fund, the Société Générale Collection, La Fab. Agnès b. and the FRAC des Pays de la Loire.
Exhibitions
2025
Behind the Scenes #8, Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, FR
2024
Expo Favela, Paris, FR
In Short Circuits, Tignous Center for Contemporary Art, Paris, FR
A Private Affair, Cloud Seven, Brussels, Belgium, BE
Open your Art - the echo of the present, Musée Transitoire, Paris, FR
Artaïs sale of multiples, Galerie Dix9, Paris, FR
The mechanics of the feat, the body put to the test by sport, Paul Eluard Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, FR
2023
PROMISES, Crous de Paris Gallery, Paris, FR
Lying in Bed, Paris-Villette Theater, Paris, FR
META/SCOPE, POUSH, Aubervilliers, FR
The Urban Odyssey, Fiminco Foundation, Romainville, FR
Cradle of the World, Art-o-Rama, Marseille, FR
Art & Bagarre, La Ruche K., Marseille, FR
Multiple Art Days, Fiminco Foundation, Romainville, FR
Private Choice, talent hatching, Paris, FR
Artissima, Turin, IT
Dsoérdre, H Gallery, Paris, FR
Iroko's Dream, Crous de Paris Gallery, FR
2022
Roots of Time, Humida Arte Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, FR
The Roots of Time, POUSH Manifesto, Clichy, FR
MEMWA VIVAN, Space 29, Bordeaux, FR
Fleuriau Spring, La Rochelle, FR
Horse Pill, Sun Cream, FR
2021
Dialogue(s), Galerie Épisodica Paris, FR
Public Transport, Société Générale, La Défense, FR
No one will fall for our flag, Cultural Center of Diversity, São Paulo, BR
Living Memento, GIDE, Paris, FR
Art in the City, 87 Rue Richelieu, Paris, FR
2020
Sleeping Nature, Torcy, FR
Saint Sulplice Fair: Photography Fair, Paris, FR
Lost Land, by Bianca da Costa, Arts Déco Paris, Paris, FR
Tomorrow will be another day: Tomorrow will be another day, Grandes Serres, Pantin, FR
The European Nomadic Biennial - Manifesta 13 Marseille, Marseille, FR
ThunderCage #17, Aubervilliers, FR
Erect, No Drama, Paris, FR
2019
Winners of the Friends of Fine Arts Prize, Galerie du Jour Agnès B., Paris, FR
Da Guerra at Arte, DNSAP | MFA Thesis Show, Chapelle des Petits-Augustins, Paris, FR
A Vida Enorme, by Emmanuelle Huynh, CN D, Pantin, FR
Love at First Sight, by Nathalie Talec/Fabrice Hybert, EDF Group Foundation, Paris, FR
Life is old there, by Tanguy Malik Bordage/Hoël Duret, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
SCRATCH x Éditions Cimaise, SHOWROOM 4, Paris, FR
One Thousand and One Nights, by Edith Dekyndt, CN D, Pantin, FR
2018
Ainda Dá - gestures for a non-poem, Mains d'Oeuvres, Saint-Ouen, FR
The path is made by walking, by Esther Ferrer, CN D, Pantin, FR
ART AS EXPERIMENT: Performing the school, Sogetsu Foundation, Tokyo, JP
Epic Fail, by Jennfer Lacey, CN D, Pantin, FR
Monumental, by Jocelyn Cottencin, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
General Warm-Up, by Jocelyn Cottencin, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Training, Thalie Foundation, Brussels, BE
2017
Vertebral/Bard/Pacific Box, CalArts, Los Angeles, USA
Monumental, by Jocelyn Cottencin, CN D, Pantin, FR
Animal Seen, Badly Seen – Performing Species Vol. I: Gazella, Point Éphémère, Paris, FR
Entre Nós / Entre Nous - the space between us, DNAP | BA Thesis Show Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris
2014
Chasing Light, Le Cardinal, Toulouse, FR
With Love, The Cardinal, Toulouse, FR
Fragments of Joy, Rue Bayard, Toulouse, FR
2012
Central Avenue, Rio Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, BR
Price
2024 ADAGP artistic research time grant, Paris, FR
2022 Price of the Dream big and grow fast Foundation, Paris, FR
Training
2020 MFA | DNSAP Paris School of Fine Arts, Paris, FR
2014 Workshops: Emmanuelle Huynh / Claude Closky
2018 CalArts - California Institute of The Arts, Los Angeles, USA
2013 Atelier Prep'Art Sud, Toulouse, FR
2009 MELIES - School of 3D, Cinema and Animation, São Paulo, BR
2008 Pedro II School - Tijuca II School Unit - Computer Session, Rio de Janeiro, BR
Residences
2023 Fiminco Foundation, Romainville, FR
2022 6bis Factory, Vitry-sur-Seine, FR
2021 Casa Tomada Festival, Rio Grande do Norte, BR
2021 Offices, São Paulo, BR
2020 White Mountain College, Fine Arts of Marseille, Marseille, FR
2018 Art as Experiment: Performing the School, Tokyo University of the Arts, Toride, JP
Collections
2024 Municipal Contemporary Art Fund, Montreuil, France
2024 FRAC of the Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
2023 FIMINCO Foundation, Romainville, France
2023 Departmental Collection of Seine St. Denis, St. Denis, France
2022 Societe Generale Art Collection, La Defense, France
2021 GIDE, Paris, France
2020 Altarea, Paris, France
2019 La Fab. the Agnès b foundation for contemporary art, Paris, France