Jean-François Leroy — À propos — Slash Paris

Shunting endlessly between painting and sculpture, volume and plane, recto and verso, Jean-François Leroy’s work seems bent on delving into the surface of his everyday environment — maybe on “piercing the skin of things”. He pierces the crust of reality, taking pleasure in subverting its usual forms and reusing lots of stuff he keeps to hand in his studio. Tarpaulins, wood panelling and carpet are among his favourite materials, to be subjected to a few simple but subtle manipulations — overlaying, slicing, folding — that give rise, despite this economy of resources, to new, impactful forms. Something like “furniture sculptures”, you might say. Indeed, the domestic still shows through sometimes, but its use is definitively — and deliberately — detached and distanced. Colour irradiates: either it underlies the material and is suddenly revealed in the layers and folds; or it wholly or partially covers that material in its original industrial form; or it is added as a subsequent coating. It’s the finishing touch, enhancing some facet of the work. Thus, covering becomes synonymous with unveiling — always an issue for a painter — and completes the reconciliation of obverse and reverse. While Leroy gives a new twist to things, he also tests out different instances: flicking through the same piece like the pages of a book, photography allows him to break down his operations progressively, revealing the markedly processual aspect of his work. And screenprinting — reproduction again — pursues the business of variation by endowing the work with a new materiality of strata and colours. All ways of starting out from the same point to achieve a singular result.

— Antoine Camenen for L’ahah, 2019.
(English translation : John Tittensor)