Caroline Cloutier
The Shape of Thoughts
From May 22 to July 5, 2025
Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, is pleased to present The Shape of Thoughts, a new series of paintings by Caroline Cloutier. Through vibrant fields of color, fluid waveforms, and radiant elements evoking halos, pulses of light, or even DNA spirals, Cloutier’s work arises from a place of quiet clarity and focused intention. Each composition begins with a figurative image—envisioned during altered states of consciousness like meditation or breathwork—which is then transformed, abstracted, and veiled. These spectral underpinnings remain faintly discernible, suspended between recognition and mystery, like images glimpsed through frosted glass. The resulting tension speaks to how much of our reality feels perpetually just out of reach, intangible, yet profoundly sensed. Each painting is conceived as a form of transmission: a visual meditation evoking harmony, peace, and the unseen threads of interconnectivity.
In this body of work, Cloutier delves into the subtle, almost invisible dimension of consciousness itself—how thoughts, emotions, and intentions leave impressions not only in the psyche but seemingly in the world around us. Marrying intuitive processes with echoes of scientific understanding, the series meditates on the vibrational nature of being, suggesting that abstract painting can resonate as an externalized imprint of internal experience. Drawing inspiration from 1970s-era studies about collective meditation, Cloutier builds on the idea that consciousness radiates frequency. If emotions ripple through us like waves, and if consciousness can subtly interact with the physical world, then painting can become a vessel for that resonance: a space where viewers not just interpret, but attune themself.
This exploration marks a continuation of Cloutier’s broader inquiry into perception. Having previously worked in photography and installation, she now turns to oil painting as a medium to investigate how abstraction can render the intangible visible—not by illustrating it, but by invoking sensation. Her minimal compositions create space for contemplation and stillness, inviting viewers to slow down and simply feel the presence of thought as it takes form.
At its heart, The Shape of Thoughts is about quiet transformation—not through sweeping gestures, but through deep attention and gentle calibration. A stroke, a hue, the subtle shift of a shape—Cloutier offers these minimal elements as visual tools for inner alignment. And when that occurs, the impact extends beyond the self. From stillness emerges resonance. From perception, transformation. From thought, a wave that touches the collective.
Caroline Cloutier holds an MFA in Studio Arts (Photography) from Concordia University (2022) and has exhibited across Canada, the United States, Italy, and Austria. Her public art commissions include permanent metal, concrete, and glass sculptures, as well as large-scale photographic murals. She has received fellowships and residencies from the British School at Rome, Banff Centre, NARS Foundation, and Molinari Foundation, among others. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Quebec, Scotiabank, Desjardins, Google, Deloitte, and Telus. She has received funding from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts.