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Olicorno is a Canadian contemporary artist based in Montréal. Born in Saguenay, Québec, his interdisciplinary practice spans painting, installation, performance and large-scale artistic projects.
For more than a decade, he has developed a distinctive visual and symbolic language shaped by science, mythology, philosophy, spirituality, anatomy and the history of art. Moving between the monumental and the intimate, the sacred and the absurd, his work examines the human impulse to construct meaning, and the images, rituals and stories through which we attempt to understand our place in the world. Olicorno graduated from HEC Montréal in 2012 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. The following year, after the success of his first performative painting project, Beauty Is What You See, he committed fully to a professional artistic practice. His early work emerged from physical experimentation and performance. Initially conceived as a rebellion against normality, comfort and the status quo, these investigations gradually developed into a more obsessive inquiry into consciousness, identity and humanity’s place within the universe. His study of astronomy and quantum physics confronted him with the vertigo of both the infinitely large and the infinitesimal, challenging the importance he had once assigned to the individual and to scientific knowledge alone. Over time, this research expanded toward symbolism, archetypes and the intuitive world. Olicorno explored Buddhist meditation in the Vipassana tradition, travelled to southern Mexico to encounter shamanic practices, and studied mythology and symbolism. These experiences contributed to an evolving personal vocabulary in which scientific inquiry, mysticism, ritual and the unconscious are not treated as opposing systems, but as different ways of approaching the unknown. Across successive bodies of work, including Bones, Kids, Witnesses of Greatness, Oracle, Feux–Transmutations and Kakloonz, Olicorno has developed an iconography populated by skeletons, bodies, landscapes, sacred architectures, explosions of matter and clown-like figures. His compositions often draw from Renaissance and Baroque painting while incorporating contemporary technologies, artificial intelligence, theatrical performances and visual references drawn from popular culture. |
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Humour occupies an increasingly important place in this universe. Rather than functioning as an escape from seriousness, it becomes a destabilizing force: a way of breaking conventions, reorganizing meaning and allowing the tragic, the spiritual and the grotesque to coexist. Through the figure of the clown, Olicorno explores transformation, vulnerability, spectacle and the unstable boundary between social identity and inner life.
As the scale and complexity of his practice have expanded, Olicorno has developed a collaborative studio model through which he conceives and orchestrates increasingly ambitious works. His practice follows a long history of artist-led workshops in which the work exceeds the physical capacity of one individual while remaining rooted in the vision, decisions and interior world of the artist.
Since beginning his professional career, Olicorno has created more than 600 original works. His paintings, performances and installations have been presented in museums, cultural institutions and galleries in Canada and internationally, as well as at events including TEDx Montréal.
In 2026, he represented Canada at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Argentina, where his performance-installation Cartas de Amor received first prize in installation.
His work is held in public, institutional, corporate and private collections across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia, including the Senate of Canada, the Centre national d’exposition, La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, HEC Montréal and the Université de Montréal.
Olicorno continues to develop a practice in which painting is not an isolated discipline but one component of a broader artistic ecosystem. Through images, performances, objects and collaborative production, he conceives projects that seek not only to occupy space, but to transform the way that space is perceived, inhabited and remembered.
As the scale and complexity of his practice have expanded, Olicorno has developed a collaborative studio model through which he conceives and orchestrates increasingly ambitious works. His practice follows a long history of artist-led workshops in which the work exceeds the physical capacity of one individual while remaining rooted in the vision, decisions and interior world of the artist.
Since beginning his professional career, Olicorno has created more than 600 original works. His paintings, performances and installations have been presented in museums, cultural institutions and galleries in Canada and internationally, as well as at events including TEDx Montréal.
In 2026, he represented Canada at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Argentina, where his performance-installation Cartas de Amor received first prize in installation.
His work is held in public, institutional, corporate and private collections across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia, including the Senate of Canada, the Centre national d’exposition, La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, HEC Montréal and the Université de Montréal.
Olicorno continues to develop a practice in which painting is not an isolated discipline but one component of a broader artistic ecosystem. Through images, performances, objects and collaborative production, he conceives projects that seek not only to occupy space, but to transform the way that space is perceived, inhabited and remembered.
Press
Andréanne Larouche: L'artiste peintre jonquiérois Olicorno s'envole pour l'Argentine", Radio-Canada, 9 février 2026
En Vedette: "Voici où sera affichée la plus récente oeuvre d'Oli de Survivor Québec," noovo moi, june 23, 2025
Simard, Roxanne: ''L'artiste Saguenéen Olivier Corneau exposera à New York'', Ici.Radio-Canada.ca, September 23, 2018
Brisson, Annie-Claude: “Olicorno au CNE, à l'aveugle, à la loupe”, Journal Le Quotidien, Saguenay, Mai 2018
Geneviève Lapalme: “Calendrier Culturel, les incontournables,” Ici.Radio-Canada.ca, Manitoba, September, 2016
Journal Métro, ''Olicorno Bones,'' Journal Métro, Montréal, Québec, September 9, 2016
Journal 24h, ''Olicorno Travaux Récents,'' Journal 24h, Montréal, Québec, September 1, 2016
Olivier Gagnon, ''Performer sa vie,'' Magazine Fugues, Montréal, Québec June 21, 2016
Audrey-Anne Maltais, ''Privation sensorielle, Olicorno peint à l'aveugle,'' Journal Le Courrier du Saguenay, June 6, 2016
Éric Clément et Mario Cloutier, ''La virée des galeries,'' Journal La Presse, Montréal, May 10, 2015
La Presse, ''Step Inside The Process» Le performance art vu par Olicorno,'' Journal La Presse, October 15, 2015
Kelli Sturkenboom, ''Rack Galerie brings Emerging Artists and Exclusive Events to St-Henri,'' The Main Mtl, Montréal, November 11, 2014
Vanessa Guimond ''Socio-financement, la voie de l'avenir,'' Le Journal de Montréal, Montréal, November 10, 2014
Justine Lalande Church, ''Quand l'ambition de l'artiste multidisciplinaire Olicorno ne veut pas se taire,'' Bible Urbaine, October 17, 2014
Éric Santerre, ''Entrevue avec l'artiste Olicorno,'' Magazine Men of Interest, Montréal, July 7, 2014
Pierre-Luc Desbiens, ''De Saguenay à Montréal à pieds,'' Le Journal de Québec, Québec, September 29, 2013
Laura Lévesque, ''Une quête interactive et artistique,'' Journal Le Quotidien, Saguenay, September 21, 2013
TV and Radio
Radio-Canada "Place publique", 9 février 2026
Radio-Canada "Le téléjournal Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean", 9 février 2026
Benoit Mcginnis, "Retour vers la culture, season 4, episode 6", October 20, 2024: ici.tou.tv/retour-vers-la-culture?lectureauto=1
NVL, Noovo.tv, Septembre 2018
Julie Larouche, ''Olicorno at the National Exhibition Center,'' Le téléjournal, ICI Radio-Canada, Saguenay, Qc, April 15, 2018
Denis Fortier, “Olicorno at the National Exhibition Center,” Médium Large, Ici Radio-Canada Première, Montréal, Qc, May 22, 2018
Rachel Lagacé, “Nuit Blanche Winnipeg (interview),” CTV Morning Live, CTV Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, October 1, 2016
Geneviève Lapalme: “Beauty is what you see (interview)” Ici.Radio-Canada.ca, Manitoba, September 23, 2016
Renaud Doucet, “Olicorno à la Maison des artistes visuels francophones (interview),” Envol 91.1 FM, Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 22, 2016
Yves Parents, ''Olicorno,'' Émission 2 pour 1 de passion, Bell télé Fibe, Montréal, Qc, November 20, 2014
Linda Bergeron, ''Jonquière-Montréal à pieds'' ICI Radio-Canada, Saguenay, Québec, September 21, 2013
Collections
Rivani, Miami Beach
Senate of Canada, Ottawa
Université de Montréal
Institut National, Montréal
La Maison Des Artistes Visuels Francophones de Winnipeg
Alliance de la Fonction Publique, Montreal
Centre National d’Exposition, Saguenay
Touché! phd, Montreal
Substance Stratégies, Montreal
Mont-Tremblant
Private Collections (150+, Canada, USA, Spain, France, Morocco, UAE, Australia, China)
Bibliography
2017 Contemporary Performance Almanac 2017, by Caden Manson & Jenna Nelson, NYC, USA
2016 Olicorno 2013-2016, by Heather Lynn & Olicorno, Montréal, Canada
2016 Contemporary Performance Almanac 2016, by Caden Manson & Jenna Nelson, NYC, USA