A major figure in visual and performance art in Quebec, François Morelli is also considered one of the pioneers of relational art. He pursues a trans-disciplinary practice in drawing, installation, performance, print media, sculpture and painting. This polymorphous approach has been a claim for freedom and has questioned the status of an artwork through its creative process and its reception. Interested in notions of passage, circulation and transformation, his art often echoes past actions or events while examining (not only in space but also in time) relationships between the artist and society, connecting individuals or relating the individual and the artwork.
François Morelli lives and works in Montreal. He holds a BFA from Concordia University (1975) and an MFA from Rutgers University in New Jersey (1983).
Since 1976, his work has been presented in several public museums, private galleries, artist-run centres and contemporary art events in Canada, the United States and Europe. He has exhibited at the Musée du Québec (1979), the Musée d’art de Joliette (1980), the Musée régional de Rimouski (1988 and 2019), the Centro Culturale Canadese (Italy, 1989), the Horodner Romley Gallery (New York, 1994 and 1995), La Vitrine (France, 2004), 1700 La Poste in Montréal (2016-17) and the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul (2019). He has also participated in the Biennale de Montréal (2002) and the Biennale du Havre (France, 2006). In 2007, François Morelli presented major installations at the Atlanta Center for Contemporary Art and the Hamilton Art Gallery. In 2011, he was part of the Triennale Québécoise (Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal).
He has also received numerous awards, including the Prix d’excellence at the Biennale de dessin, de l’estampe et du papier du Québec in 1993, the Prix Louis-Comtois in 2007, awarded by the City of Montreal in collaboration with the AGAC, and the prestigious Prix Ozias-Leduc in 2021, awarded by the Fondation Émile-Nelligan.
In addition to this long list of accomplishments, he is also a teacher who has travelled from New York (Rutgers University, City University of New York, State University of New York) to Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and Montreal (Concordia).
His work is included in a number of public and private collections such as:
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Musée Régional de Rimouski
Musée de Joliette
Washington Museum of Art
New Jersey State Council for the Arts
New Jersey Rothmans of Pall Mall,
University of Southern Alberta Collection
The Canada Council Art Bank
National Library of Canada
La bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
The Canada Council for the Arts
Air Canada
Colombia University Library New York
Cirque du Soleil
The Loto-Québec Collection
The Steinberg Collection
The Desjardins Collection
The Fluxeum Collection
As well as several private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe.
