Xela Institute of Art is pleased to announce Not For Sale, the first US solo exhibition of Christophe Leroux, opening Saturday, June 22, 2024 from 2-5pm, and on view until September 22, 2024. To know the work of Christophe Leroux is to be steeped in the glyphs and characters of a poet-industrial urban artist. Leroux first burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, in what was to become an era defined by a growing optimism and sense of possibility around ideas of global economic interconnectedness. Trade routes and material agents of commerce started to fuse and an ethos of shared economic interest, rather than resource hoarding, began to reshape and refocus broader international relations. Leroux’s practice spans oil and hand-cut stenciled spray paints, and moves fluidly from etchings and burn marks on paper to painstakingly hand-manipulated aluminum sheeting. He is a master of both juxtaposition and deceptive simplicity, loading an excess of meaning into simple gestures and taut, bold silhouettes. The grace and delicacy of his fine line-work manages to achieve a balanced coexistence with the dense and mysterious industrial codes scattered throughout his compositions.