Thierry Lefort - Biography

Recent exhibitions

2025 - August Château de Bénat, Bormes-les-Mimosas
2025 - July Gallery 33, Santa Monica
2025 - Show Gallery, Los Angeles
2024 - Cap Ferret 2024 - May, Château de Malleret, Bordeaux
2024 - May Château Beaupin, Marseille
2024 - February, Gallery on Avenue Matignon, Paris
2023 - Montreuil Art Center
2023 - June, New Workshop, Saint-Ouen
2022 - November "Fahrenheit" by Yoyo Maeght, Paris
2022 - October, Inks and oils, Sweeney Gallery, Bordeaux
2022 - July, Recent Works, Château de Sannes, Luberon
2022 - March, Studio, Recent Works, Saint-Ouen
2021 - September, First exhibition presented by Yoyo Maeght, Paris
2020 - August, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art
2015 - August, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art
2015 - June, Constantine Palace, Saint Petersburg

Exhibition booklets

Thierry Lefort and Yoyo Maeght, June 2023

Thierry Lefort was born in 1967. At the age of twelve, with no formal theoretical or technical training, he picked up pencils, brushes, and pastels, creating his first drawings and paintings. It was a revelation; he found his own way of perceiving the world, its light, its colors, and above all, its beauty. Later, Chinese calligraphy, practiced in the Henan province of China, led him to a greater precision of line.

Thierry Lefort, Oil on wood panel, 41 x 33 cm

With Thierry Lefort, we can speak of a "Renaissance of Figuration," with all that this implies in terms of simplicity, elegance, purity, and even spirituality. Paul Cézanne, to whom he devotes boundless admiration, said that " painting from nature is not slavish copying, it is realizing one's sensations ." Thierry Lefort offers us the opportunity to reach our own feelings. "The act of painting and drawing demands such obedience that it becomes hypnosis, tearing us away from ourselves to such an extent that time and the world around us no longer exist ." Jean Cocteau. Thierry Lefort, "Full Frame," Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Thierry Lefort's strength and distinctiveness lie not only in his technique, but also and especially in his reinterpretation of the world around him, particularly the industrial and urban landscape. For his works, he favors painting "en plein air," seeking to capture the world in its entirety, in the intensity and precision of its light, forms, and colors. Thierry Lefort has mastered the art of transcending life to retain only its best, offering an enthusiastic and optimistic perspective on places as diverse as train stations, factories, bridges, and even ordinary parking lots. Yet, in his depictions of these places, the human figure is absent, though its presence is palpable.

Thierry Lefort "The Flight of the Grasshoppers", Oil on canvas, 81 x 60 cm

While everything in his paintings invites the rediscovery of beauty, make no mistake, Thierry Lefort is not trying to deliver a faithful representation of the scenery, landscapes, or cities he paints. For him, the "subject" and the "motif" are merely pretexts. They are the starting point for a complex composition where masses, lines, forms, light, and colors are forced into equilibrium. He achieves this equilibrium with remarkable success.

Thierry Lefort, "Rosanna", Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

In September 2021, Yoyo Maeght chose to exhibit his paintings in Paris; this first collaboration was enriched by the publication of two limited edition prints, which sold out just as quickly.

Thierry Lefort, exhibition Paris, 2021

The year 2022 saw the organization of numerous exhibitions of the works of Thierry Lefort.

In 2022, Thierry Lefort was invited by the city of Burbank to create a monumental work of more than 150 m2. All stages of the creation were captured on video which will soon be the subject of a documentary.

In the spring of 2022, the city of Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California, confirmed the commission given to Thierry Lefort for a monumental work for a wall at the intersection of Orange Grove Avenue and San Fernando Boulevard.

Thierry Lefort will spend the entire summer of 2022 creating the wall himself, adapting his model to its scale. For a few days before tackling this monumental work, Lefort escaped Los Angeles and drove to Arizona and the Grand Canyon. There, the desire to paint the immense in miniature led him to create the Hualapaï series, canvases as small as the Burbank mural is vast.

The city of Burbank, in Los Angeles County, is the world capital of media and the film industry, home to major studios such as The Walt Disney Company, Touchstone Pictures, ABC, Warner Bros., NBC, and Warner Music. At the city's request, Thierry Lefort created this monumental artwork spanning over 150 square meters. All stages of its creation were filmed and will soon be featured in a documentary.

Thierry Lefort, Wall of over 150 m2 in Burbank, California. 2022

Thierry Lefort, Burbank print project.

The highlight of 2022 was the exhibition presented by Yoyo Maeght in Paris, where more than 3,000 people were able to discover recent paintings over the 5 days of the exhibition.

Thierry Lefort, Exhibition Paris, 2022. Yoyo Maeght Curator

In June 2023, Thierry Lefort will inaugurate his new workshop, a three-day event. Registration is limited to ensure everyone is welcomed by Thierry Lefort and Yoyo Maeght.

Thierry Lefort's workshop, June 2023

Thierry Lefort, exhibition at Château de Sannes, 2022

The year 2024 begins with an exhibition organized by Yoyo Maeght in Paris, presenting paintings, works on paper and prints, and accompanied by a text by the writer Jean-Christophe Grangé.

Thierry Lefort, Rue de Penthièvre 2024

For the exhibition at the Château de Malleret, Thierry Lefort creates large formats, always sublimating oil painting on canvas and presents his new creations, true three-dimensional works, where wood, metal and paint come together to create amazing painted sculptures.