Thomas Lerooy

The oeuvre of Thomas Lerooy is characterized by an inherent duality: it attracts and repels at the same time, it is recognizable yet alienating, it is humorous and serious, intimate as well as grotesque. Whether Lerooy draws, sculpts or paints, he is always searching for the limits of his medium or his subject. His enigmatic works challenge the logic of the viewer and leave the interpretation to their imagination. He uses recognizable motifs that he manipulates and thus undermines.

In the last 15 years, Lerooy has made a name for himself with his sculptures and drawings. His paintings are a recent development that came out of a necessity. Lerooy stumbled upon the limits of his maniacal drawing technique and the constraints gravity imposes when working in bronze. He investigates and breaks through the codes of painting, which manifests itself in a tension between abstraction and figuration, sharpness and haze, structure and smoothness. They are light-hearted and charged at the same time, and thus put themselves and the reality from which they arise into perspective.

BIOGRAPHY

Born 1981 in Roeselare, Belgium

Works in Brussels, Belgium

Grants

2011

Artist in residence at Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria

2009-2010

Artist in residence at Künstlerhaus Bethaniën, Berlin,Germany

Solo exhibitions

2023

Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY USA (forthcoming)

Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA USA (forthcoming)

2021

If you feel more than butterflies in your stomach, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2019

Behind the Curtain, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

2018

Vanity Fair, Gaasbeek Castle, Gaasbeek, Belgium

Stigter Van Doesburg with Iris Van Dongen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2017

Playground, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium

2016

I Need you close, Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo, Norway

2015

Beauty in the shadow of the stars, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France

2014

Seduction of Destruction, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Etats d'âmes, Maison particulière, Brussels, Belgium

2012

rodolphe janssen, Summer Project, Villa Knokke, Knokke Heist, Belgium

Souvenir, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France

2011

X&Y, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2010

The Garden of Exile, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France

Hole in the sky, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria

Something in between, Künstlerhaus Bethaniën, Berlin, Germany

2009

Braindance, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France

2007

Infini, Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels, Belgium

2006

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium

Group Exhibitions

2022

Sausage Party, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2021

De eerste parade, curated by Joost Declercq, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

De Porous City, Triennial Bruges 2021: TraumA, Bruges, Belgium

Nature Morte, The Hole, New York, NY USA

2020

Light After Darkness, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art Gallery Salzburg-Vienna, Austria

KIP – Kunst In Puurs, Puurs, Belgium

Art Autun #2020, Contemporary Art Biennial, Autun, France

2019

Convexe/Concave: Contemporary art from Belgium, TANK, Shanghai, China

Wondrous Worlds, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

2018

Painting still alive, Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland

CHARIVARI, Pamelekerk, Oudenaarde, Belgium

Nieuw Amsterdams Peil 2nd edition, curated by Joost Declercq and Charlotte Crevits, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

MOMENTUM 18, Ypres, Belgium

Kunstenfestival Watou, Tussen Taal & Beeld/Verzamelde verhalen, Watou, Belgium

Intervention. Raum für Junge Kunst. Sammlung Reydan Weiss. ‘Ohne Etikett fühle ich mich freier…’, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, Germany

WORKFLOW, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

2017

Doing identity, Die Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Listening To The Form, Panthera, Brussels, Belgium

Ecce Homo, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp, Belgium

birds, cigarettes, guitars, eyes and trees, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Anniversary exhibition Galleri Brandstrup 30 years, Oslo, Norway

Fantastic Art in Belgium, Utsunomiya Museum of Art, Utsunomiya; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

Ecce Homo, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp, Belgium

Bxl Universel, Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, Paris, France

2016

Recollection-Art & Fashion, Belfius art gallery , Brussels, Belgium

Bxl Universel, La Centrale For Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium

Mir Ist Das Leben Lieber. Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Weserburg/Museum Fur moderne kunst, Bremen, Germany

Weird and Wonderful, Los Carpinteros, Ouyang Chun and favourite pieces from the Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

Tous Belges!, Abbaye St André Centre d’art contemporain, Meymac, France

2015

Glasstress 2015 Gotika, collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale, organised by The State Hermitage Museum and Studio Berengo, curated by Dimitri Ozerkov and Adriano Berengo, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti and Fondazione Berengo, Venice, Italy

Là où commence le jour, LaM, Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne, d’Art Contemporain et d’Art Brut, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth - Oscar Wilde, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2014

Vanitas : Contemporary Reflections on Love and Death from the Collection of Stephane Janssen, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ USA

Addenda, Musée de l’Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose, Lessines, Belgium

State of Minds, Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium

Résonance(s), Maison particulière, Brussels, Belgium

2013

Là où Commence Le Jour, LAM, Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain de Villeneuve d’Asq, France

Donation Florence et Daniel Guerlain, Centre Pompidou Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France

Rien faire et Laisser Rire, rodolphe janssen, Belgium

Voyages intérieurs, Maison Particulière, Belgium

2012

Methamorphosis : the Transformation of Being, All Visual Arts, London, United Kingdom

Everywhere and nowhere, Villa Jauss, Oberstdorf, Germany

Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

Through the Looking Glass, ME-Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany

2011

Mémoires Du Futur, La Collection Olbricht, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France (catalogue)

Summershow, Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Small, Medium, Large, Donjon De Vez, Vez, France (catalogue)

Bronzes, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

Origine(s), La Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium

2010

When will they finally see the power of drawing, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp, Belgium

Lebenslust und Totentanz, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria

Vanbijdeburen-Belgium (curated by Joost Declercq), Kasteel keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands (catalogue)

OPEN, Zoya Museum, Modra, Slovakia

Skulls,Skeletons & Bones (curated by Xavier Tricot), Oostende, Belgium (catalogue)

2009

Galerie Im Regierungsviertel/Forgotten Bar Project, Berlin/Belgium

Art in the city, Brussels, Belgium

GALA. 5, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany (catalogue)

Salon du Dessin, Palais de la Bourse, Paris, France

DARK SUMMER, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2008

Anatomie, Les peaux du Dessin, collection Florence et Daniel Guerlain, FRAC Picardie, Picardie, France (catalogue)

New Media, Stéphane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke, Belgium

The flowers of evil still bloom, Cueto Project New York, NY USA (catalogue)

Power to the people (curated by Pierre-Yves Desaive), Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels, Belgium

Poëziezomer Watou 2008 (curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio), Watou, Belgium (catalogue)

Special Opening, Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels, Belgium

Die hände der kunst, Marta Herford, Herford, Germany (catalogue)

The hands of art, S.M.A.K. Ghent, Belgium (catalogue)

2007

The teardrop explodes, Stadtgalerie Schwaz Tirol (curated by Karin Pernegger), Austria

Stranger than paradise (curated by Max Henry), Galerie Charlotte Moser, Genève, Switzerland

Thomas Lerooy & Lucy McKenzie (curated by Tanguy Eeckhout), Be-part Artplatform, Waregem, Belgium

Gegen Den Strich (curated by Christoph Tannert and Valeria Schul te-Fischedick), Künstlerhaus Bethaniën, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)

Art Brussels Projectroom rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium

2005

St.Lucas Gallery (curated Filip Luyckx), Art Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

2004

Schabbernak, Netwerk Gallery, Aalst, Belgium

Interface (curated by Helix), Atomium, Brussels, Belgium

Provincial Archeological Museum (curated Stef Van Bellingen), PAM, Ename, Belgium

Projects

2010

Mars op Oostende, PMMK-Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, Belgium

2009

100 years of Michelin, Musée D’Orsay, Paris, France

Collections

Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Provincie West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Belfius Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium

Ville de Bruxelles, Belgium

City of Knokke, Belgium

City of Puurs, Belgium

Zuzeum Art Center, Riga, Latvia