Paintings
Marie-Lou Desmeules’ paintings treat the figure as a constructed image rather than a fixed identity. Working primarily in acrylic and spray paint on canvas, she uses saturated colour, sharp contrast and exaggerated figuration to create portraits charged with glamour, tension and psychological instability. Drawing from fashion, cinema, nightlife and popular iconography, the works examine desire, power, projection and performance. They have been exhibited in Canada, Germany and Spain, including at IVAM — Institut Valencià d’Art Modern — and are held in private collections internationally.
Acrylic
Spray paint
Canvas
Materials
Painting
Portrait
Series
Forms
Formats
Original
Canvas
Collection
THE ART OF MAKING MEN BEHAVE
Men are optional. Female authority is not. This series stages desire as command: unapologetic, theatrical and fully in control. Through saturated colour, erotic tension and exaggerated power dynamics, the paintings turn domination into spectacle and submission into choreography. Partners change; the power does not. These women do not ask to be desired, understood or approved of. They set the terms—and everyone else adjusts.
DIVAS
The Divas series portrays iconic women whose images have shaped popular culture, style, and collective imagination. Created with acrylic and spray paint, the works emphasize color, presence, and visual intensity. Rather than simple homage, the series treats the diva as a constructed figure: admired, projected onto, and transformed into myth through the force of her image.
FEMMES FATALES
These large-scale acrylic paintings examine femininity as image, performance and projection. Using saturated colour, sharp contrast and exaggerated poses, Marie-Lou Desmeules constructs figures that oscillate between glamour and menace, control and exposure. The works borrow from fashion, cinema and popular iconography while resisting a fixed narrative: each portrait remains powerful, artificial and psychologically unstable.
Explore