Leon Oks – Circle Foundation for the Arts

Acclaimed contemporary artist, Leon Oks is originally from the Ukraine and today lives in Buffalo Grove, USA. As a child, not yet old enough to understand what he saw, Leon looked at the world and was captivated by the beauty around him. Still, these impressions deeply touched his young heart and even then he felt a strong passion for creating art.

At age 41, Leon made the difficult decision to immigrate with his family to the United States where he could express himself in his art as he felt was appropriate. The move to the USA re-energized his artistic life.

Leon Oks has been published in many European art anthologies, including examples of his art in their compendiums of significant historical paintings of the past 5 centuries. Top six museums worldwide have acquired his art as part of their permanent collections.

Leon Oks has several styles of art that reflect the uniqueness of his experience and the complexity of his creative process. In his bittersweet nostalgia of his years in the Ukraine, Leon Oks is able to retrieve the sweetness and ignore the bitterness; his paintings capture these memories with hopefulness and joy.

“It is important that my audience, in a very simple way, draw satisfaction and pure pleasure looking at and living with my art. This is the power of art: to overcome the problems and realities of everyday life and offer a hopeful view.”