Maite Leon is an artist illustrator. Of French-Greek origin, she lives and works in Paris.
She grew up in Athens, Greece. She arrived in France in 1991 to study linguistics at Paris X. In 1995, she trained in visual communications at the Ecole supérieure des arts appliqués Duperré. Her career then diversified into a number of creative industries (Sony Music France, Disney Interactive Studios) and publishing (J’ai lu, Hatier). After fifteen years of Greek-French subtitling (Arte, Titra-film), she became Plantu’s collaborator at Le Monde for twelve years. With him, she wrote a dozen collections of press cartoons published by Editions du Seuil, and archived his collection of almost 30,000 original drawings, now stored at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Since 2021, she works full time as an artist and illustrator.
She explores everyday life to reveal the beauty of what surrounds us through a surreal, symbolic and pop approach. She questions the way we look at reality in order to awaken the viewer’s attention to the singularity of the present moment: “Beauty is hidden in the details”. Her dreamy images unravel our imagination, make us think or smile. In this way, she encourages us to question our perception of things, people and the world around us.
Her figurative work is inspired by the exploration of human nature, dreams, symbols and archetypes drawn from Greek mythology, cinema, fairytales and everyday life. From what touches her personally, she draws images that resonate universally, creating meaning and connection. This quest for universality is at the heart of her artistic work, and of her multicultural identity.
She sketches out her ideas on paper, using felt-tip pens, then moves on to drawing them digitally. She carries out extensive research into the materials and textures she creates in ink or watercolor and adds them to her compositions using Photoshop. The final images are digital and come in various high-definition formats and fine art prints.
Her compositions are vibrant, with intense colors with the velvety texture of digital pastels who give a warm, organic feel. Her images, are both aesthetic and mysterious, and invite viewers to share her sensory vision of the world and drift towards the uncharted imaginary shores of our inner depths.
2024
Exhibition at the “Neighbours Gallery” with Expos to Day at Franprix Condorcet 17e (FR)
Exhibition at the “Neighbours Gallery” with Expos to Day at Franprix Belgrand 20e (FR)
Openbach Gallery, Summer Art residency 2024 (May-June), (FR)
2023 Mirror-Mirrors, Self-portraits online projet initiated by French artist Magali Cazo, (FR)
2024
“The Dreamer”, Summer Residents’ exhibition, Openbach Gallery (FR)
“Time Of Dreams” exhibition at Centre Paris Anim’ Maurice Ravel (FR)
“Art & Sport” online virtual exhibition with La Maison des Artistes for the Olympic Games (FR)
2022
Beaux-Arts : L’Objet, Espace Culturel Gabriel, Viry-Chatillon (FR)
Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers d’artistes de Ménilmontant, Paris (FR)
Visions of Forced Labour, Palais des Nations Unies Genève, Suisse (CH)
Conservatoire Municipal Georges Bizet, Paris (FR)
2012-2019 Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers d’artistes de Ménilmontant, Paris (FR)
2010 Small formats in New York, The Art Gallery (US)
2009 Salon Art Shopping, Carrousel du Louvre (FR)
La Maison des Artistes / Artistes Contemporains / ADAGP