Braxton Garneau

Efraín López is pleased to present Metamorphosis Ball, an exhibition of new works by visual artist, Braxton Garneau. For his first solo exhibition at the gallery, Garneau presents a new series of paintings, continuing his exploration of materiality and costuming. For this body of work, Garneau has employed the use of arched canvases to create portals that collapse cultural and historical elements into complex portraits of armor and adornment. Garneau’s interest in materiality is specifically drawn out in the lace details of these works, made from hand processed shells piped into imagined lace patterns. Integrating three-dimensional costuming elements with gestural asphalt forms, Garneau is interested in both self-adornment and thinking about masquerade as a disruptive tool for social change. Metamorphosis Ball is accompanied by an essay authored by Hilary Davidson, a dress, textiles and fashion historian and curator, and chair of the MA Fashion and Textile Studies at the School of Graduate Studies at FIT.

Braxton Garneau is a visual artist based in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada). He holds a BFA from the University of Alberta and has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2024), Gavlak, Los Angeles (2023) and Stride Gallery, Calgary (2021). His work was featured in the retrospective exhibition Black Every Day at the Art Gallery of Alberta (2021), It’s About Time: Dancing Black in Canada 1900 – 1970 and Now at Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton (2020), curated by Seika Boye, and New Direction, curated by AJ Girard and Artx at Château Cîroc, Miami, Florida (2021). In 2024, his work Pitch Lake (Pietà) was acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through the Northern Trust Purchase Prize at EXPO Chicago, and he was awarded the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award. He has been accepted into the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, NY for 2025.