Artist Biography
Julien Pascal Delannoy is a Franco-Ontarian visual artist based in Montréal, Québec, whose practice centers on expressive, large-scale oil painting and drawing. Born and raised in Ottawa, Delannoy attended multiple schools during his youth, exposing him early on to a wide spectrum of artistic philosophies and techniques. His adolescence was defined by a four-year posting in Warsaw, Poland, where his mother served as a diplomat. Immersed in European arts and culture, Delannoy undertook rigorous classical and watercolor training, a pivotal experience that transformed his early curiosity into a lifelong dedication to fine art.
Upon returning to Canada, Delannoy completed high school in Ottawa before moving to Montréal to pursue Studio Arts at Concordia University. Entering the broader Canadian art scene, he initially explored curatorial production and multimedia exhibitions, but soon shifted his focus entirely toward his own independent studio practice. In oil painting, Delannoy discovered an endless, fulfilling medium for technical mastery, material discipline, and raw emotional expression.
To fund his schooling and sustain an uncompromising art practice, Delannoy spent years working seasonally as a tree planter across British Columbia and Québec. The grueling physical labor and deep isolation of the Canadian wilderness profoundly shaped his relationship with nature, resilience, and time. In 2025, after surviving a near-death experience when a tree fell on his head, Delannoy experienced a profound shift in perspective. Recognizing the urgency of his creative timeline, he channeled his energy into presenting the extensive body of work created over the preceding years.
This pivotal moment sparked a surge in career momentum, marked by back-to-back solo pop-up exhibitions at Arts Court in Ottawa (December 2025) and Genesis Gallery in Montréal (April 2026). Now operating out of a dedicated studio space in Saint-Henri, Montréal, Delannoy continues to expand his practice, developing an ambitious body of large-format oil paintings and preparing for upcoming exhibitions across Canada.
Artist statement
I am a Montreal based artist working in oil painting. My work is expressive, personal and explorative. I consider my work practice a discipline, finding solace in consistency and self betterment. As a colorist and dynamic painter, giving a canvas identity and beauty is what I strive for. With time, I let my canvas morph and change into its final rendition, reworking it and giving the painting time to evolve.
Technology permeates my practice, I make a conscious effort to film myself every time I paint. As a constantly watching apparatus, the camera is a motivational force, it lets me revisit my work while creating urgency by scrutinizing my every action. It forces me to be spontaneous and flexible with the mediums I use or mood I am in. A finished canvas of mine is a culmination of repeated studio sessions. What experiences or ideas I garner between each studio session thus influences my work since the direction of any given painting is never set in stone. I paint as if someone ordered me to make art, I then film myself to prove I did it, then I create process videos to provide evidence that I manifest the act of art making. In that regard, the creative process and practice of creating fleshes out my work and gives my canvases meaning and character.
The experiences, the people I meet and the things I do all influence my work. Themes like urbanism, nature, existentialism, dynamism or the passing of time often prevail in the final rendition of a pieces as a subtle presence. Although these kinds of themes are present in my work, the process, the act of painting and filming simultaneously are crucial in the development and meaning in my work. This makes the end result a moment in time, impossibly repeatable. (Or: impossible to repeat.)
