Jude Griebel

b. 1978, Ottawa, Canada; Lives and works in Canada and New York

Jude Griebel’s practice explores the crisis of planetary collapse. With a focus on contemporary human behaviors such as consumption, the factory food system, land depletion, and waste production, Griebel’s works are objective yet fantastical depictions of humanity’s complex and destructive connection to the surrounding world. By weaving symbolism, diverse cultural references, and scientific reality the artist produces intricate portrayals of cyclical human consumption, eco-anxiety, and planetary decline, encouraging viewers to scrutinize their entanglement with the world and question destructive habitual behaviors.

Griebel's sculptures merge human forms with those of animals, insects, architecture, and the natural environment. Having grown up in rural Alberta, Canada, Griebel has a particularly deep appreciation for the natural landscape, with first-hand knowledge of farming culture and having personally witnessed environmental degradation due to contemporary consumption and industrial development. 

Primarily a figurative sculptor, he works with myriad materials including clay, textiles, hand-carved woods, and papier-mâché, and employs a combination of techniques such as modeling, carving, and constructing to produce his sculptural forms. The artist allows his work to be inspired by a variety of presentation models, from the grotesque embodiments of the Renaissance to the morphing characters of mid-century cartoons to the dioramas of natural history museum displays to traditionally scientific didactic miniatures, imbuing each sculptural figure with a distinctly playful yet traditional disposition. Walking a line between the grotesque, the tender, and the humorous, Griebel’s work reflects on the mechanics of consumerism, the erasure of living identity, and interspecific relationships. 

Jude Griebel’s inaugural solo exhibition at Massey Klein Gallery, Revenants, was on view February 10th through March 23rd, 2024. The gallery featured two sculptures by the artist at NADA House 2024, held annually in Nolan Park on Governor’s Island.

Griebel graduated with a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada.  He later completed an MFA International Exchange at the University of Lapland in Finland before completing his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Ceramics from Concordia University in Canada. He has participated in numerous artist residencies, including those at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in Ireland, AIR 3331 in Tokyo, Japan; Le Carmel de Pamiers in France; the College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan; Pioneer Works in Brooklyn; The International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn; MAAS MoCA Studios at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; Kunstnarhuset Messen in Alvik, Norway; Halle 14 Center for Contemporary Art in Leipzig, Germany; MiZ Istanbul; Ted Harrison Artist Retreat Society in the Yukon, Canada; The Vermont Studio Center; and the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, to name only a few. 

Recent awards include the Folly Tree Arboretum's Dancing Tree Award, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project Grant, the Canada Council for the Arts Project Grant, the Canada Council Travel Grant, The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Marketing Grant, the Leo Paul Rampsperger Award in Sculpture and Ceramics, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Graduate Scholarship, and the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation Visual Arts Grant. The artist has been a guest lecturer at institutions including The School of Visual Arts in New York, the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, The University of Alberta in Edmonton, The University of Calgary, and Dawson College in Montreal. 

Recent North American institutional exhibitions include the Rochester Center for Contemporary Art (Rochester), the Whyte Museum (Banff), the International Museum of Surgical Science (Chicago), El Museo de Los Sures (Brooklyn), the Holter Museum of Art (Helena), Esker Foundation (Calgary), and the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton). Additionally, his work has been featured in institutional exhibitions internationally at Leitrim Sculpture Center (Manorhamilton), 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo), Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (Gimpo-si), the Spinnerei Archiv Massiv (Leipzig), City of Jyväskylä, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art Ueno, and Galleria Kajo III at the University of Lapland. 

Noteworthy press includes Galleries West, Hyperallergic, Canadian Art Magazine, Art + Design Magazine, and The National Gallery of Canada Magazine. Griebel’s work is in permanent collections at Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Le Carmel Pamiers, Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary, Art Gallery of Alberta, Frans Masereel Centrum, Colart Contemporary Canadian Art Collection, Sakima Art Museum, Equitable Bank Group, Silpakorn University, Silvercorp Mining, and Volpert Foundation. Having grown up on a family farm in rural Alberta, the artist now lives and works in New York City.