Nathalie Gribinski

I paint to surprise myself. I believe painting is a language that creates connection through play.

For more than twenty years, I have been developing an original visual language called Tourlicoulis. Inspired by the musicality and playfulness of the French language, Tourlicoulis has no literal definition. It is an evolving visual vocabulary through which I explore communication, imagination, transformation, and human connection.

My process is intuitive and spontaneous. Working primarily with acrylic paint, oil markers, ink, watercolor, and mixed media, I rarely begin with a fixed destination. Music often guides the rhythm of my gestures as lines, colors, and shapes begin to interact. A line may become a creature, an accidental mark may suggest a new form, and the painting can change direction completely. I follow these discoveries rather than trying to control them.

Invented figures, birds, hands, flowers, dots, lines, and organic forms recur throughout my work, meeting and transforming through color, humor, and play. These elements create relationships and unexpected encounters rather than fixed narratives.

I am inspired by artists including Miró, Kandinsky, Klee, Picasso, and Van Gogh, whose use of color and visual language opened new ways of seeing.

For me, play is the way into the painting. The surprise happens while I create; the connection happens when someone else encounters the work. I invite viewers to bring their own experiences, emotions, and imagination to what they see. The painting becomes a conversation, and the viewer completes its meaning.

Columbia College, Chicago, USA | 1994
B.A. of Arts

Roosevelt University, Chicago, USA | 1992
English, Continued studies in Arts

Assas University, Paris, France | 1991
B.A. of Law

• TERAVARNA: "16TH Abstract" | Honorable Mention Award with "Princess with Horns" | 2026
• Circle Foundation for the Arts: Creative Excellence | 2025
• TERAVARNA: "15TH Abstract" | Honorable Mention Award with "Princess with Horns" | 2025
• Camelback Gallery: “Shades of Blue”| Finalist with “Do you want to play with me?” | 2020
• Artavita: “2020 art competition” | Finalist | 2020
• Camelback Gallery: “Bold abstracts” | Finalist with “The myst of Fire” | 2020
• Contemporary Art Gallery Online: “All Colors” | 4th place with “Summer Garden” | 2018
• Contemporary Art Gallery Online: “All abstraction” | 1st place with “Fire River” | 2018
• Camelback Gallery: “Abstract Art” | Finalist | 2018

Professional/Teaching

Independent professional artist and graphic designer based in Chicago. I also teach private one-to-one art lessons for children and adults in my Printer’s Row studio. My approach encourages creative freedom, experimentation, play, and the development of each student’s individual way of seeing and expressing themselves.

Experience

For more than thirty years, I have maintained an active studio practice encompassing painting, drawing, watercolor, and mixed media. My work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and internationally and is held in private collections in the United States and Europe. I have also completed commissioned projects, including a large-scale mural for Emory Brain Health in Atlanta, subsequently gifted to Arthur M. Blank Hospital. My professional background in graphic design continues to inform my understanding of composition, color, and visual communication.

Solo Exhibitions
2025 — Tourlicoulis, SPOT, Chicago, IL, USA
2024 — Dances of Colors, The Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago, IL, USA
2022 — Les Tourlicoulis: A 30-Year Retrospective, Povos Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2021 — Never Out of Shapes, Fulton Market Kitchen, Chicago, IL, USA
2019 — The Sacred Woman, The Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago, IL, USA
2015 — Tourlicoulis d’Aujourd’hui, Private Venue, Chicago, IL, USA
2007 — Ebullition Two, State Street Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2006 — Ebullition, Expgallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2005 — Peintures et Tourlicoulis, La Chapelle Saint Ferréol, Provence, France
2005 — Aventures des Tourlicoulis, Private Venue, Chicago, IL, USA

Group Exhibitions
2026 — I Care A Lot, SZNL CHICAGO, Chicago, IL, USA
2026 — 14th Annual Juried Art Competition, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL, USA
2025 ­­— Vinoteca, Vagabond Art, Chicago, IL, USA
2023 ­— Bloom, Povos Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2021 — Art and Interiors, ALMA Art and Interiors, Chicago, IL, USA
2020 — DressMe, Milano Fashion Week (Virtual Exhibition), M.A.D.S. Gallery, Milan, Italy

My artistic influences range from the expressive color of Van Gogh to the visual invention of Miró, the symbolic language of Klee, the structural freedom of Picasso, and the spiritual dimension of Kandinsky. I am also inspired by the light and colors of Provence, music, nature, and the rhythms of human interaction.

Beyond individual influences, I am drawn to artists who invented their own visual languages and created worlds with their own logic. This freedom to transform color, line, symbols, and imagination into a personal language has been important to the development of Tourlicoulis and to my own search for connection through play.

colorful, emotional, passionate, musical, whimsical, playful