Born in 1960, Denis Desjarlais lives and works in Montreal. An intimate painter, he finds his subjects in the closed door theatre of human relations. It is in search of privileged intimate moments that he ventures into this confrontation with the canvas where feelings and aesthetic requirements will merge in complete freedom. Already at the moment when the sketch begins, we discover the scenes and characters in gestation in his imagination.
Denis Desjarlais reconciles storytelling with an analytical vision of emotions. His work interferes in the intimacy of every facet of the feelings of being. All these heads think and all these faces express a true feeling in his paintings. Each character exudes infinite sweetness through their powerful gaze, or bitter pain by the bitter impression of a terrible mask. It is the expression of strength, that of a vital zeal to seize this fugitive world.
These scenes take us into a timely period where, as in poetry, everything must be said in a few words, in a few spaces. Forms, situations, whispered and fleeting intentions and a time frozen in the limited space of the canvas keeping the vigour of movement. ..you'd almost think you could hear the sounds of the stage action...This is the power of the moment.
Having worked with video, installation and writing, Denis Desjarlais favours painting because it is in the spontaneity of the gesture that lies the mystery of the power of the image.