Element Air 1, 2024

Lucien Leogane  

Born on May 27, 1951 in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, introduced to painting as a teenager by Monsieur Adolphe, a visual artist who has since passed away, Lucien Leogane studied art at the University of Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris).

Holder of a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Plastic Arts, he has been teaching since 1980 at the Saint Joseph de Cluny college in Baie Mahault in Guadeloupe.

A renowned specialist in the teaching of Plastic Arts and Applied Arts, he is frequently called upon by public and private educational establishments in the archipelago.

In 1988, he created, with Klodi Cancelier, the plastic expression group Koukara (Koulé Karayib), with the aim of working to promote the arts and plastic artists of Guadeloupe, the Caribbean and Africa.

For over thirty years, Lucien LEOGANE has established himself as one of the most eminent masters of contemporary arts in the Caribbean region. His constant presence at the main artistic events of the last few decades attests to this.

From biennials to traveling thematic exhibitions in Puerto Rico (1987, 1992), Santo Domingo (1987, 1992, 1994, 1997), Saint Lucia (1993), Curaçao (1993), Trinidad (1992), Barbados (1992), Cuba (1994), Saint Martin (1995), the United States (1988, 1997), Canada (1996), Brazil (1997), Martinique (1989, 1991, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2004), Metropolitan France (1992, 1995, 1996, 1998) and Guadeloupe, Lucien Leogane has built up a large, dense and prolific international body of work.

However, since 1987, he has reserved the exclusivity of his personal exhibitions for the Guadeloupe archipelago.

About the artist

"...I take advantage of this to probe the soul, to descend to the depths of the being with a brush-eye turned inward. But in this inwardness, I am always in search of light, bursts of light or jets of light... I am interested in energy in painting, I channel the energy this... I went from realism to surrealism, then to a non-figurative style with a symbolist tendency... I believe that my path has constantly gone from the visible to the invisible and that over the years, the part of the unspeakable has become larger... My artistic path is clearer and clearer, directed towards the light..."