DENIAL is the pseudonym for Daniel Joseph Bombardier, a Canadian muralist and urban artist whose work centers around critiques of modern society. There are many recurring themes to DENIAL’s pieces, including politics, capitalism, and consumer-driven culture.

While DENIAL’s pieces are often biting and satirical, it’s his grounding in the human element that makes his art different from many of his contemporaries.
DENIAL works out of his studio, based in the city of Windsor, just on the other side of Lake Michigan from the US. His adoption of the alter ego ‘DENIAL’ came largely as a way to make fun of advertising and mass media messages which often portray less than realistic versions of modern-day life.

DENIAL continues to produce meaningful art, both murals and other urban art pieces, teach classes to younger artists, and tour internationally to promote his work.

What kind of art does DENIAL make?
DENIAL is a muralist and urban artist, as such his art falls into two distinct categories. The first, murals, are often large, bold, and meant to be a commentary on common pop tropes. His goal is to “stun the viewer into contemplating the deeper meaning of its content and meaning”.

These pieces often incorporate DENIAL’s pseudonym as part of the artwork. This is common with many graffiti artists. These murals appear around the world, though some of his most significant work can be found in Detroit, Houston, and his hometown of Windsor.
DENIAL’s other urban art takes many forms, though they all share a common set of values, impish humor, and artistic ingenuity. His piece Designer Drug (2012) is made from spray paint on wood and features a series of pills with various commercial logos printed on the capsules.

His piece Border Patrol (2014) plays with the work of Roy Lichtenstein, a comic heroine, her face painted in the colors and patterns of the American flag, has her head in her hands in anguish. Another, Chase, with credit card (2016) features a fake Chase Debit card printed on glossy card stock.

How did painter DENIAL get started?
DENIAL began as a muralist in his hometown of Windsor, Ontario in 1999. The young artist was entrenched in the budding graffiti and street art communities of that era. It was in 2000 that he would adopt his pseudonym (a play on a phonetic jumble of his own name) and incorporate it into many of his pieces. DENIAL spent much of his early years honing his skills in Windsor before turning to the wider world of street art, producing Murals across North America.

He would eventually develop a massive following based largely on his guerilla-style use of social media and traditional marketing techniques. He boasts that there are over 500,000 of his stickers displayed in public places across the world. More recently, DENIAL has tried to bridge the world between street art and gallery art, largely due to frustrations with the transient nature of street art. This move pushed him into new areas, mixing his graphic designs and graffiti styles to make dynamic and challenging pieces that feel as real and lived-in as any of his urban murals.