|
BIO
Based in Brossard, Canada, François Desnoyers (1961–) holds a degree in French Studies from the University of Montreal and a degree in Visual Arts from Concordia University in Montreal. He is a contemporary artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, and digital art. Best known for enigmatic and ambiguous scenes, his expressionist style of figuration reveals a world of isolation marked by mystery, uncertainty, and apprehension where part of the information is deliberately omitted in favor of an intuitive reading, inviting us to consider that certain aspects of reality, particularly our perception of others, will always remain under the management of desire and imagination. With the series Mémoires (2000-2003), exhibited in Montreal at Galerie Lieu-Ouest and at the Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges, Desnoyers examines the vulnerability of the human body by painting on large sheets of plywood, using the wood’s veiny surface and imperfections to evoke human skin. In the series Corpus Inane (2004–2005), exhibited at Galerie Gora in 2005, the human body is seen as the recipient of a truth that can never be grasped. Between 2006 and 2015, Desnoyers’s preoccupation consistently revolved around distress, solitude, and self-awareness, compelling him to portray the world of human interactions as a source of perplexity and anguish. In recent years, he has created several new series in response to the climate crisis, exploring the landscape genre, again through a non-conventional approach to surface, systematically replacing canvas with old rags, used bed sheets and other reclaimed industrial fabrics, underscoring our necessary relationship with the artificial and introducing into his practice an harmony of intention between his medium and his subject matter. Desnoyers has gained recognition both in Canada and internationally, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. In 2007, he participated in the 21st Painting and Sculpture Exhibition at the Chapelle Saint-Benoît in Argenton-sur-Creuse, France. The previous year, his works were featured in several group exhibitions in Spain, including New Art Barcelona and the 25th Painting and Sculpture Exhibition at the Municipal Museum of Ourense. In Canada, in 2006, he also took part in the Montreal Festival of Japanese and Canadian Contemporary Art. His international presence extends to art fairs in the United States, including New Art Miami in 2004 and the Affordable Art Fair in New York in 2003. His works are included in various private, corporate, and public collections, including the corporate collection of Lavalin, now integrated into the collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. |
CV
1961, birth in St-Hyacinthe, Canada Education
1986-1989: BFA in Studio art, Concordia university, Montreal, Canada Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 "Desnoyers - Recent Paintings", Gora gallery, Montreal, Canada Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs
2024 "ArtExpo Paris 2024", galerie Agnes Nord, Paris, France Public and private Collections
The Museum of Contemporary art of Montreal, Canada Press and publications Poésie des gestes quotidiens, Brossard: Le Courrier du Sud, 2007
Luk Côté, Peintures, (press release). Montreal: Maison de la culture Cote-des-neiges, 2001
Rémi Turgeon, Peintures récentes, (press release). Montreal: Gora Gallery, 2001 Selected events and commissions
2005 "Arte Mondo", televised interview conducted by Anita Aloisio. |