Leon (Le) Yaun - Artist
Le was born in 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee. His artistic ability developed at an early age. When he was in the fourth grade his carving of the Parthenon on soap was selected to be shown at the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Memphis. Le continued his studies as a young adult at the Memphis Academy of Art, where many of his paintings were on display.
After moving his family to New England Le was an active member of the Mystic Art Association of Mystic, Connecticut. He also exhibited at the Slater Museum Gallery in Norwich Connecticut. In his early work Le used nearly every medium including pen and ink, oil on canvas, water colors, pastels, scratch board and acrylic. As the demands of a growing family took more of his time, his art was put on the back burner for nearly thirty years.
In 1990 Le moved to the North Carolina mountains and has been able to devote a great deal of his time to his artistic passion. He primarily does folk art of whimsical characters many from his childhood memories of trips to New Orleans and summers spent on the bayous of southern Louisiana. Some of his favorite subjects are gators, crows, cats, seascapes, New Orleans street scenes, fortune tellers, the moon and stars and an imaginary group of truth seekers known as “The Broom People”.
Le
has limited his exhibition to Folk Fest, Inc., the nations largest folk
art show, which is once a year in August in Atlanta, Georgia. His work
is avidly collected by several private parties who anxiously await each
new release. Only recently has Le decided to recreate a few of his pieces
of work as giclee prints.