Exhibitions
Marie-Lou Desmeules (LouRie) has presented her work internationally through exhibitions, performances, screenings, and commissioned projects. Her practice has been shown in contemporary art spaces, cultural institutions, festivals, and public settings, encompassing Living Sculptures, painting, photography, moving image, and installation.
Exhibitions
Performances
Screenings
Presented as
Galleries
Festivals
Public commissions
Contexts
Year
2005–present
2021
I AM EVERYONE ANYONE NO ONE
Commissioned for Maricón Perdido (Queer You Are), the Spanish television series created and written by Bob Pop, I Am Everyone, Anyone, No One brought together Living Sculptures conceived for a fictional contemporary-art exhibition. Drawing on figures from celebrity culture, history and politics, the project presented elaborately constructed, grotesque portraits within the narrative of the series.
Presented at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, Clone Corrupt brought together works by Marie-Lou Desmeules and Isham. The exhibition explored duplication and the altered human figure through two distinct artistic approaches, bringing Desmeules' constructed portraits into dialogue with Isham's work.
2019
CLONE CORRUPT
Presented at TRAFO in Szczecin, Poland, Who Are You? brought Marie-Lou Desmeules' investigations into portraiture and bodily transformation into an exhibition setting. Through constructed figures and staged imagery, the project confronted viewers with distorted and unfamiliar versions of the human form.
2015
WHO ARE YOU?
Unshot Film Stills presents photographs by Amin Akhtar developed in collaboration with Katz & Steve, the artistic collective founded by Paula Bogati and Marie-Lou Desmeules in 2006. Conceived as stills from films that were never made, the photographs suggest imaginary scenes and characters, inviting viewers to construct the stories surrounding them.
2019
UNSHOT FILM STILLS
Presented at Studio9 in Istanbul, Ephemeral Metamorphosis was a live performance centered on the transformation of the human body. Through painting, materials and physical intervention, Desmeules constructed a temporary figure before an audience, making the act of transformation itself part of the work.
2011
EPHEMERAL METAMORPHOSIS
Presented at Baraka in Bucharest, Monster Unveiled was a live Painting Surgery performed before an audience. Over approximately two hours, Desmeules transformed a human model into a grotesque sculptural figure through painting, costume and improvised materials. Set on a candlelit wooden stage, the performance was accompanied by music from Silent Strike.
Photography: Adi Bulboacă.
2015
MONSTER UNVEILED
Presented at Université Laval in Québec, Du langage jusqu’à la chair! brought Marie-Lou Desmeules’ Painting Surgeries into dialogue with philosophy through a live performance and contributions from philosophers and artists.
The event led to a special dossier in Phares, the university’s philosophy journal, featuring essays examining the human body as artistic material, the grotesque, the role of the model, and the experience of becoming a living artwork.
Publication: Phares, Vol. 11, No. 2, Autumn 2011 — Du langage jusqu’à la chair!
2012
INHABITING THE GROTESQUE
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