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BioFrançois 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 Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 "Recent Paintings", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada Selected Group Exhibitions
2006 Festival of Japanese & Canadian Current Art, Montreal, Canada Recognition and honorary mentions
2007 Public and private collections
The Museum of Contemporary art of Montreal, Montreal, Canada -
(The Lavalin Collection)
Selected events and commissions
2005 "Desnoyers on the Roof", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada
Press and publications
"Poésie des gestes quotidiens", Le Courrier du Sud, june 30, p.33 (2007) Publications
2023 Literary magazine La page blanche, No. 61, poems
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