Biography of Youri Leroux

Youri Leroux comes from the North of France, a region whose landscapes have seduced so many artists.
Born in 1972, now married with three children, he is characterised by his reserve, his typical northern France inwardness and his sentimental attachment to his family and his origins.

From a very young age, he showed great interest in art and any thing that gave free reign to his imagination.
He attended classes offered by painting workshops.

At the age of sixteen, he went to the Saint-Luc Institute in Tounai (Belgium) where he studied new arts teaching and met famous artists. He later attended architecture and design classes.

After gaining his diploma in 1999, he joined an architect’s office in Lille (France) where he worked principally with volume, colours and the enhancement of light.

His first exhibition was held at Le Masquerel (France) and included fifteen artists. He sold his first paintings.

The highlights of 1997 and 1998 were his wedding and the birth of his first child. His painting evolved, his work focused more on the curves of the female body and the plumpness, sensuality, shapes and shadows that it emanate.

After traveling in North Africa, be began to focus on his backing material – sand was a very successful and impressive medium, giving the viewer the urge to approach and caress his paintings.

In 2000, he traveled to New York, where he feasted on verticality and asymmetries that were in sharp contrast to his supple work on the female body.
In early 2001, encouraged by true art lovers and the success of his paintings, he left his job as an architect to devote himself to his art.

He subsequently applied these geometric ideas in a literary theme, more intimate and reassuring – perspectives, depth, repetitions, an enormous library or just three books with straight lines and the effects afforded by contrasting materials.

Looking out from his open workshop, many things inspire him. Through the lovely Breton coast, he reveals to us his third pictorial theme – the combination of feminine curves and asymmetric libraries suggest old sailboat parts. A veritable sail dance! This is how he expresses his desire for freedom.

Starting from 2003, Youri “Literature” theme is becoming more about “Writing”.
He is accumulating material and paint, brush it, scratch it in order to reach the first material. He is doing several layers, always looking for a new effect of light and colors. A touching and moving kind of small “writing” born from his new abstract paints… his fourth pictorial theme.

Right up to today, his work remains centered around these four main themes of eroticism, travel, literature and writing.