Cindy Phenix
Cindy Phenix received an MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University in 2020 and a BFA with distinction from Concordia University in 2016. Phenix has exhibited at renowned institutions, including solo shows at Victoria Miro, Vortic; Makasiini Contemporary, Helsinki; Nino Mier Gallery, New York, Los Angeles, and Brussels; Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, Montreal; and Maison de la Culture, Longueuil. Group exhibitions include Paul Smith Space, London; PM/AM Gallery, London; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance; Megan Mulrooney Gallery, Los Angeles; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Julius Caesar, Chicago; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal; Clark Center, Montreal; Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Montreal; among others. Phenix’s practice has been featured in The New York Times, Flaunt, Art21, Artnet, A Women’s Thing, Esse arts + opinions, and Border Crossings. Cindy Phenix’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, Collection BGL, Caisse de Dépôt du Québec, Claridge, Hydro-Québec, and Gris Orange Consultants.
Artist Statement
Cindy Phenix’s artistic practice unfolds across painting, drawing, and installation, merging abstraction and figuration. Phenix’s dense, layered compositions evoke collage and are executed in a vivid palette with textured marks that lend a gestural character to the work. The importance of fragmentation and kaleidoscopic rupture generates a sense of narration, creating worlds within worlds where the interplay between spirituality, humans, and non-humans comes alive with sentience and self-awareness. It offers a glimpse into the haunting consequences of human action on our ecological balance, surroundings, and biodiversity, alongside reflections on new possibilities.
Phenix’s visual universe portrays a microcosm of our systems of living, addressing the critical challenges of our time and reflecting on the tenuous border of societal tensions and ecological crises. The humans, creatures, monsters, animals, insects, flora, minerals, and microbial life that populate the scenery explore the role of the collective in these issues and how actions can determine outcomes on a much larger scale. Envisioned as a collective performance rooted in environmental consciousness and focused on ecocentrism, Phenix emphasizes the importance of new connections, communities, and actions required to conjure the times to come — a breach through which hope and joy can flow.
https://www.cindyphenix.com/
