My painting must be gestural. No hesitating. All in one go. I like crisscrossing spirals and curls. But, painting after painting, I strive to simplify my subject. I aim for the essential".
    This translation from "MON CREDO", by Michel Le Roux describes his style perfectly.   
    Le Roux's father was a painter, so Michel became familiar with this form of art as a child. Later on he would try his hand at graphic arts and printer's fonts or typesets. In fact Michel has taught both disciplines at CEGEP Ahuntsic, formerly the Institute des arts graphiques. Michel adopted oil painting in 1982. His first solo shows took place at the Galerie Lisette Martel in Montebello and at Galerie Michel-Ange in Montreal, in 1988 and 1989. Exhibits in the United States would soon follow.
    Michel also wrote that he "chose to paint vegetation. Like any other subject, it can fit into a contemporary context." When young, Michel heard people say that painting trees was difficult and gave Marc-Aurèle Fortin as a successful example to follow. Le Roux picked up this artistic gauntlet and invented his own highly personal way of interpreting the world of plants, especially their leaves and the light on the surface of the leaves. As the artist said then and repeats now: "A faithful representation does not interest me in the slightest. I can only keep a few references points to guide the eye and the heart in the colourful emotions that nature reveals to us.

"I wish to capture its intrinsic nature."
   Indeed, Le Roux's paintings reveal swarms of leaves bearing sunshine creating space, chasing or crisscross-ing each other, and pathways or clearings. The work becomes a graceful ballet, a "mid-summer's night's dream" of sorts in which the elements of the composition are biological speci-mens. Despite the apparent rush of branches and their movement as a whole, each scene is carefully com-posed and nothing is left to chance. Upon viewing Le Roux's work, analo-gies with music in the form of waves, dance or the splendour of pure move-ment to rhythm come to mind.
   Le Roux's representation of nature is far from that 'touristic' image of landscape art. Viewers are also far away from mere illustration which conveys little emotion. In Michel's leafy world of underbrush, shadowed waterfalls, and inviting paths, passion appears. This is a passion that the artist seeks to share with the

viewer alone. It is a passion which does not allow the subject to be a mere excuse for almost abstract interpretation. Le Roux stands out from the crowd and will never be one of those trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes.