Leon Oks

I paint for the satisfaction of the created work. If the range of emotions and thoughts I have experienced in the process of painting are visible on my canvas, only then do I call it finished.. It is important for me that my audience, in a very simple, perhaps old-fashioned way, gets pure enjoyment and pleasure from viewing and living with my paintings. This speaks to the power of art to transcend the troubles and realities of life and offer an alternate vision full.

My career in art started when I was a child. My works are in permanent collections of world-class museums and have received numerous first place international awards. I paint in the expressionistic style which recalls the wistfulness and bittersweet memories of growing up during the difficult years after the World War II in Ukraine. My paintings capture these memories with hopefulness and joie de vivre expressed by the choice of warm palettes and lyrical compositions. My paintings also explore the complexities of modern life with fantastical depictions of intertwined human forms symbolically and metaphorically expressing our most basic and defining emotions.

I was formally educated and trained in fine art in Ukraine. Since 1980, I live and work in the United Stated and call Chicago my home. My works can be found in permanent collections at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, Russia; Museum of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, Russia; Museum of the Americas in Miami, Florida (U.S.); European Museum of Art in Denmark, Latino Art Museum, Pomona, California (U.S.); and Italia in Arte, Italy. Additionally, my art is often independently anthologized in many volumes published in many books: by England, Italy, USA and France. I am also featured in a lavish monograph, "Leon Oks: Dreamscape", published by World of Art in 2007.

I am participating in the most prestigious International shows around the world, more than 60 including numerous solo shows.
I was in person invited in 2012 to one of the most prestigious International show World of Art Showcase at the Wynn resort Las Vegas as one of the top six features, Internationally renowned artists including Nelson Shanks, Daniel Greene, H. R. Giger, Steve Hanks and Max Ginsberg.