Jean Paul Leon

Jean Paul Leon(born 1955) is a French/Spanishartist,sculptor,writer, known mainly for his workUnisonwhich assembles four art collections on the three Mediterranean Religions andBuddhism-Daoism,calling for understanding and dialogue among all people. His bookHeritage,prefaced by French MinisterJack Langand recommended by TheLouvreMuseum curator Lizzie Boubli is the first of the trilogy. This was followed by the publication of his book of short stories and paintings of the Menorah,Hebras hebraicas,launched at Museo Centro Sefarad-Israel in Madrid and featured onRadio Sefarad Interview Hebras hebraicas Jean Paul Leon.

In 2020, Universo de Letras, Editorial Planeta, publishedMujeres en la Cruz.Under the same title, his collection of paintingsWomen on the Cross,exhibited at FundaciónAntonio Berni,inspired the workshops and the participatory digital museum Art4WomensRights supported by ICOM, the International Council of Museums, Nigeria, to raise consciousness through Art on human trafficking, sex violations and other issues affecting women today in the country and worldwide.

His latest book,La palabra desnuda,(The Naked Word), was presented at theAteneo de MadridNovember 30, 2023along with the Book of Aphorisms,Año bisiesto

Jean Paul Leon Yodh's 4m long public mural,Da Vinci's Dream or the Nightmare of the 4 Judges,was inaugurated at the Central Hallway of theHospital Clínic de Barcelonaon February 8, 2024, two years exactly from the date of the kidney transplant donated by his wife. The event was covered live onTV3 Interview Mural Jean Paul Leon Yodh.

The Menorot as an ensemble. Paris premiere at Le Marais 2005

Early years

Jean Paul Leon was raised inFranceandSpainand educated inEnglandin the Classics, Greek, and Latin. At age 7 and a half, Leon met Pablo RuízPicasso,a comrade of his grandfather. Meeting the man and visiting his studio had a major and lasting impact on his life. At age 11, Leon won a nationwide writing contest sponsored by Coca-Cola.

As a Writer

By 16, Jean Paul Leon had published his first article for the newspaperEl Norte de Castilla,under the auspices of laureateMiguel Delibes,where years later, he became a columnist. At 19, he began writing as a freelancer for the magazine Triunfo, publishing in-depth interviews with English folk-singer-songwritersJohn Martyn,Sandy Denny,Nick Drake,and others.His short story, TheLast Judgement,was published by Grafein,Barcelonain April 2015 for the benefit ofDoctors Without Borders. At 18, he began a series of solo art exhibits curated by Chantal Hinaut through theAlliance Française.

Having spent 12 years as a writer in Hollywood, he has now picked up where he left off and started writing and publishing again in Spanish with four titles in the last four years.

In her introduction toLa palabra desnudaatAteneo de Madrid,Professor and literary critic, Concha D'Olhaberriague, describes Jean Paul Leon Yodh as "an avant garde writer, with the grace to combine verbal registers with efficiency, self-confidence, impudence and a cynical touch. Torrential enumerations sometimes render a frenetic rhythm to the fluid, rhythmic and fun style that sprouts spontaneously, evidencing his Jewish humor replete with satire, wit, a eschatological component and black humor."

Career

By 23, Jean Paul Leon had married and moved toNew York City,where, on the very first exhibit of his drawings, he was selected as 'most promising young artist' at New York'sWashington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit.

At 24, he had his first one-man-show onMadison Avenue,N.Y.C., at Barbara Walter's Gallery. From there, he continued exhibiting until the 90's when he moved toHollywoodto work in the film and animation industry. In 2003, after 12 years inLos Angeles,he returned toParis,where he began exhibiting again and continued working on a lifelong choice of subject: Light and Luminaries, their contribution to universal culture.

In 2006, Jean Paul Leon's oeuvre, encompassing 30 years of work on theMenorahas conducting wire and symbol of light was assembled in the art bookHéritage,prefaced by French Minister of CultureJack Langand recommended by TheLouvreMuseum curator LizzieBoubli.The bookHeritage,which unites the artist's paintings and his writings, in three languages, was edited by Michael Neugebauer, published by MinEdition Franceand sponsored by the Culture Mission of LaFondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah,Paris.while presided by French MinisterSimone Veil,survivor ofBergen-Belsenand first woman President of theEuropean Parliament.Richard Covington,writer for theSmithsonian,New York TimesandInternational Herald Tribunedescribed the work saying: "There's an incandescent energy here that rewards every viewing with unexpected revelations, keeping the eye and brain off-balance and alive".

In 2005-2006, an exhibit of the Heritage Collection was presented by theJewish Museum of Belgiumat the Cathedral of Brussels under the title “Menorah in the Cathedral”, by invitation of CardinalGodfried Danneels,and dealt with the pain and disagreement between the two communitiesChristianandJewish.The exhibit resulted in a historic encounter between the two communities and as thus was reported in the Flemish Journal De Standaard.The exhibit was inaugurated by the then Archbishop of Brussels,Jozef De Kesel.Addressing Baron Georges Schnek, the then President of the Consistory and of the Jewish Museum, the public, and Prof. Albert Guigui, Grand Rabbi of theGreat Synagogue of Brussels,Monsignor De Kessel offered his apologies for the crimes perpetrated against the Jews on May 1370 and commemorated in the windows of the Cathedral of Brussels, along with many others throughoutBelgium,denominated as ‘The Massacre of Brussels’. This event marked the first steps in the compilation of the artist’s oeuvre later assembled under The Unison Collection.

During this period, while museum, gallery exhibits and public conferences succeeded one another, Jean Paul Leon started work on a new collection:I.N.R.I.Ieusus Nazarenus Rex Iudeurum(oil on wood panels over large crosses) 33 incisive portraits that depict the figure of Jesus Christ and its varying socio/psychological aspects as His myth travelled through the last 2000 years as explained by Clare McAndrews of Arts Economicsin her article,Jean Paul Leon: Portrait of an Artist.In the prologue to the book I.N.R.I. by Jean Paul León, notable British writerPhilip Pullman,author ofThe Dark Materials&The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ,observes: ″These pictures represent a formidable attempt to grapple with the legacy of the most strange and Enigma tic man who ever lived.″

In 2007, Jean Paul Leon moved his studio to Dublin, starting with an invitation by publisher and founder Noelle Campbell-Sharpfor a residency as an artist at theCill Rialaig Arts Centre,where he createdUlysses, Fate and Destiny,an art collection illustrating the 18 chapters ofJames Joyce'sUlysses (novel),exploring the subject of Leopold Bloom as the figure of the ever wandering Jew, andHomer'sOdysseusas the ultimate hero facing the peril of death at every turn of his journey back home to his kingdom, to hisIthaca.

After completingUlysses, Fate & DestinyinDublin,Jean Paul Leon settled inBerlin,focusing his energy on a pending collection,Reflections of Islam,started in 1978 when, during his honeymoon in the Sahara, he was given a copy of theQur'anby a fellow traveller. The work was taken up again in 1991, during the invasion ofKuwait,in another desert, theSonoran Desert,Arizona,where the bulk of the work was created with 3D objects and mirrors that reflect the viewer and incorporate him/her into the artwork, projecting exterior images and interior reflections.The resulting body of work is based on the readings of the text, on contemplation, on the mirror of the desert, on the oasis, on the sand, on the wind, on his love forcalligraphy,on the spell of LaAlhambra& its unique tendency to travel with him, not only in thearabesque& thefiligreeof time but on the mostogivalconfines of the imagination.

The three collections:Hebrew Heritage,I.N.R.I.&Reflections ofIslam,along withOriental Meditationsconformthe Unison Collection. The Unison Collectionis the result of Jean Paul Leon Yodh's lifelong dedication and his ultimate conviction... considering that "when a seeker enters through the threshold of the three monotheistic religions, he secretly expectsMaggid– to hear the voice of God – but inevitably stumbles upon the restricted realm of mankind ".Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo.In his introduction to the artist, leading Art Appraiser of the City of Paris, MaîtrePierre Cornette de St-Cyr,writes: "the light in art, as Jean Paul Leon shows us, will lead us towards intelligence."

External links

• Official website