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.
Born 1981 in Roeselare, Belgium
Works in Brussels, Belgium
Artist in residence at Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria
Artist in residence at Künstlerhaus Bethaniën, Berlin,Germany
Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY USA (forthcoming)
Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA USA (forthcoming)
If you feel more than butterflies in your stomach, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Behind the Curtain, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
Vanity Fair, Gaasbeek Castle, Gaasbeek, Belgium
Stigter Van Doesburg with Iris Van Dongen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Playground, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
I Need you close, Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo, Norway
Beauty in the shadow of the stars, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Seduction of Destruction, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Etats d'âmes, Maison particulière, Brussels, Belgium
rodolphe janssen, Summer Project, Villa Knokke, Knokke Heist, Belgium
Souvenir, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
X&Y, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
The Garden of Exile, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
Hole in the sky, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
Something in between, Künstlerhaus Bethaniën, Berlin, Germany
Braindance, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
Infini, Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels, Belgium
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
Sausage Party, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
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
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
Convexe/Concave: Contemporary art from Belgium, TANK, Shanghai, China
Wondrous Worlds, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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)
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
St.Lucas Gallery (curated Filip Luyckx), Art Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
Schabbernak, Netwerk Gallery, Aalst, Belgium
Interface (curated by Helix), Atomium, Brussels, Belgium
Provincial Archeological Museum (curated Stef Van Bellingen), PAM, Ename, Belgium
Mars op Oostende, PMMK-Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, Belgium
100 years of Michelin, Musée D’Orsay, Paris, France
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