About
Biography
Nathalie Gribinski is a French-American artist based in Chicago.
Born in Algiers and raised in Paris, she initially studied law before moving to the United States, where she pursued fine art and graphic design and established a career as both a designer and visual artist.
Her work explores abstraction as a language of communication.
Through painting, drawing, and illustration, Gribinski creates vibrant worlds where color, rhythm, and organic forms express curiosity, connection, and the joy of discovery.
Over time, her practice has evolved into a distinctive
visual language that continues to expand across different bodies of work.
Central to her artistic practice is the Tourlicoulis Universe, an ever-evolving world of imagined beings, expressive forms, and playful interactions. Developed over many years, the Tourlicoulis reflect her ongoing exploration of relationships, transformation, and the expressive possibilities of visual language.
Working primarily with acrylic paint, oil markers, and mixed media, Gribinski embraces spontaneity while seeking harmony between structure and freedom. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions and is held in private and corporate collections in the United States and abroad.
Artist Statement
I paint to surprise myself.
I believe painting is a language that creates connection through play.
Communication has always been at the heart of my work.
Some conversations happen through words; others can only exist through color, rhythm, and gesture. More than twenty years ago, this search led me to create Tourlicoulis, an original visual language inspired by the musicality of the French language. It continues to evolve through expressive lines, vibrant colors, recurring symbols, and playful characters that transform from one painting to the next.
I rarely begin with a fixed idea. Guided by music, I work intuitively, allowing acrylic paint, oil markers, ink, watercolor, and mixed media to find their own relationships on the surface. Rather than illustrating a concept, I discover it as I paint. Every work becomes part of a larger conversation, expanding a vocabulary that remains open to chance, curiosity, and transformation.
The freedom of artists such as Miró, Kandinsky, Klee, Picasso, and Van Gogh encouraged me to trust imagination over representation. Their work showed me that painting could invent its own language. Mine grew into Tourlicoulis, a universe that continues to expand without repeating itself.
I do not paint to provide answers or illustrate a story. I paint to create a place where viewers can bring their own memories, emotions, and imagination. If each painting becomes a conversation completed by the person standing in front of it, then the work has fulfilled its purpose,
and the conversation continues.