Sight Songs: A solo exhibition featuring Nicolas Dürr

"Sight Songs" is a holistic collection of Nicolas Dürr’s works from the past few years. Dürr shares “It represents my influences from music, light-art, and stage design, translated into the stillness of paintings. Working towards interpretations that evoke the immersive experience of my influences with new exploration. All my paintings are in some way inspired by nature. My goal is to create the same feeling as walking through forests and knowing inevitably, new things will emerge from the different perspectives of that same place. The intention behind using mirrors is to emphasize this feeling.”

Dürr presents:

Jungle

What lies behind those leaves? What lies on the path not traveled? How many living things are watching? The wonder of the jungle is ever dense, engulfing, intriguing, and mystifying. All living things battle for a spot of light, for a drop of water, for any nutrient affordable, awarded to the ones who manage to make their way past the world of hurdles they inhabit. Such difficult problems require creative solutions, which make beautiful results. The depth and diversity of this environment is the inspiration for this collection of paintings reflectively called JUNGLE.

Down The River

This is a series of paintings I am currently working on that is the stylistic evolution of the Jungle series paintings. With a growing mastery of working the different inks and paints on glass and mirror, this series has allowed me to explore more constructed landscapes. I take inspiration from all places that come to sight when needed. An important factor of the exploration with these paintings is the sense of always wondering what is beyond our lines of sight when we are at these locations. I want to emphasize the aspect of being able to find new things depending where one is standing in relation to the painting. My favorite tools to achieve this effect have been translucence and reflection.

Divine Beauty

Humans and the other animals of the world share the same home. To celebrate this connection, this series aims at depicting animals that metaphorically represent different universalities that we both share. By using mirrors, the animals are in our environment in real time. The reflection of the room in which the painting is placed is going to house the animals being depicted in it. The dynamic nature of a mirror, makes the paintings morph with the environment they are in, reflecting the inevitable connection the environment has to its inhabitants.

Hall Of Mirrors

People will always be our ultimate reflections. The faces we see populate our mind drive many of our uncontrollable desires, and reflect the way we see ourselves. This collection pays homage to all of the faces I have seen that have morphed into a collective improvisational emergence that have been recorded in plates, wood, mirrors, and paper.

Artist bio:

Nicolas Cassel Dürr (b. 1996, Montreal, Canada) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Working across painting, drawing, and light, Dürr employs acrylic, alcohol ink, and India ink on diverse supports including canvas, mirror, glass, metal, and wood. Dürr is best known for his abstract depictions inspired by nature and the human figure, achieved through sophisticated layering and translucent effects.

Dürr’s practice explores the profound interdependence between humans and the natural world - celebrating the beauty of this relationship while underscoring the continuing importance of authentic human expression amid advancing technology. His compositions are characterized by fluid, organic forms, vibrant color fields, and an interplay of opacity and transparency that evokes both ecological systems and emotional states.

The ongoing JUNGLE series, initiated in 2024 and extending through 2025, marked a pivotal development in Dürr’s career, unlocking new technical possibilities and crystallizing his distinctive visual language. This breakthrough has since spawned several new projects and collections currently in progress. Nicolas Cassel Dürr has presented solo exhibitions including JUNGLE at The Lyric, Fort Collins, and Sight Songs at Cornerstone Gallery, Fort Collins, with works held in private collections in North America and Europe.

You can learn more about Nicolas and his work online at www.nicolascasseldurrart.com and on Instagram (@nicodurrart).

Free and open to the public

Cornerstone Gallery

Thursdays | 2-6 PM

Fridays | 5-9 PM

Reach out with questions to [email protected].

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Host or Publisher Cornerstone Gallery