Bio

François Desnoyers now resides and works where he was born, near Montreal, Canada. He is a distinguished contemporary painter and digital artist, renowned for his remarkable expertise in working with oil paint, which he often mixes with other media, including found objects and construction material. He is drawn by rough textures and the expressive qualities of coarse materials such as rags, metal wires or plywood, for example. Desnoyers also uses a computer and a drawing tablet to create digital series. Using electronic tools, he transforms photographs and drawings so that he can save and edit a number of instances of the same work, making series from a single starting point.

The artist is best known for his expressive style. In the early 2000s, François Desnoyers gained some prominence for his paintings on wood in which he let the imperfections of the material have a voice in the paintings. By doing so, he made life and death be part of his discourse. In 2004, the artist examined more closely the human body as a receptacle for consciousness and a center where information is traded. With these paintings, he asked the questions: “Where is consciousness?” and “What is life?”, making apparent some bodily functions such as hearing (the input) and speaking (the output), which to him also symbolizes getting into and out of life. Through symbolic shapes, his aim was to express the pointlessness of searching for the truth. Pursuing this idea, from 2015 onward, he explored the essence of solitude and its impact on our perception of reality. In 2023, with his latest project “Terres d’ici”, Desnoyers chooses to create bleak landscapes, painting on the frames and using rags as support for his chosen subject matter: disaster and impending doom. This series is concerned by the impact of global warming which he sets against the rigidity of our frame of mind. Desnoyers’s artistic identity is closely linked to his perception of the self and how our consciousness impacts the future of society.

His talent was recognized early on by Leo Rosshandler, who purchased his work for the Lavalin collection which is now part of the Montreal Museum of contemporary art's collection. His work has since been collected by various private national and international collections. François Desnoyers’s work has garnered recognition through group exhibitions such as Ourense’s Municipal Museum in Spain and the International Fine Arts Federation of Nantes Chantenay in France. For both of these, he was honored with an award. He also participated in solo exhibitions at diverse venues in Montréal, Canada.

Education

1986-1989: BFA in Studio art, Concordia university, Montreal, CA
1982-1986: BFA in French literature, Montreal university, CA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2015 "Recent Paintings", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada
2007 "Poetry of daily life", Hall des arts, Brossard, Canada
2005 "Recent Paintings", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada
2003 "Recent Paintings", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada
2001 "Painting", Maison de la culture Côte-des-neiges, Montreal, Canada
2000 "Recent Paintings", Lieu Ouest gallery, Montreal, Canada

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 Festival of Japanese & Canadian Current Art, Montreal, Canada
2006 Ourense museum, Ourense, Spain
2006 International Show of Nantes Chantenay, Nantes Chantenay, France
2004 Art Miami, Miami, USA
2003 The Affordable Art Fair, New York, USA
2002 New Art Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
1992 Contemporary art gallery of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

Recognition and honorary mentions

2007
Chapelle Saint-Benoit d'Argenton-sur-Creuse, Centre-Val de Loire, France "21^st exhibition of paintings and sculptures", under the patronage of the Canadian embassy and the Town Hall of Argenton - honorary diploma for the contribution of the artist to promotie the art from Quebec on the international scene
2006
Municipal museum of Ourense, Galicia, Spain "25^st exhibition of painting and sculpture 2006", under the patronage of the Canadian embassy and the Town Hall of Ourense - honorary diploma for the contribution of the artist to promote the art from Quebec
2006
Groupement artistique de Nantes Façade Atlantique - fédération internationale des beaux-arts, Nantes Chantenay, France, "exhibition of painting and sculpture 2006" - honorary diploma for the artist's body of work
2005
Arte Mondo, televised interview with Anita Aloisio

Public and private collections

The Museum of Contemporary art of Montreal, Montreal, Canada - (The Lavalin Collection)
*
Bernard Lamarre, Montreal, Canada
Joe Padulo, Naples, Florida, USA
Jo Gora, Montreal, Canada

Selected events and commissions

2005 "Desnoyers on the Roof", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada
   - Following an invitation, murals on the rooof of the exhibition area.
1992 Sharx Pool Bar, at the Faubourg Ste-Catherine, Montreal, Canada
   - Following an invitation, murals in the entrance hall, covering three walls of the room.
1992 Two large works commissioned for the Sharx Pool Bar & Bowling, in Montreal, Canada
   - A tryptic on steel panels on which drawings were welded; the painting was about 10 feet wide by 5 feet high.
   - An iron strucure, welded and painted, of 7 feet wide by 3 feet high.

Press and publications

"Poésie des gestes quotidiens", Le Courrier du Sud, june 30, p.33 (2007)
Rémi Turgeon, "Recent Paintings", Gora Gallery (2003)
Luk Côté, "Peinture", La maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges (2001)

Publications

2023 Literary magazine La page blanche, No. 61, poems
2019 Literary magazine Récit-page, poems
2018 Literary magazine FPM, No. 18, poem
1985 Book of poems, Derrière le silence, Tryptique
1984 Literary magazine Moebius, No. 20, poem