Sébastien Léon Agneessens is a French-born, New York–based pluri-disciplinary artist whose work pushes collectible design into the worlds of experimentation and illusion.
Known for his sculptural furniture, glass manipulation, and sonic sculptures, Léon creates pieces that feel at once primeval and futuristic, functional and magical — tables that appear to hover, mirror surfaces that turn transparent, resin chairs carrying the texture of leather. Through his practice every object is conceived as both a functional design and a work of magic.
Inspired by the model of the Renaissance studio, Léon approaches design as a practice of perpetual invention. Glass is silvered, marbled, or deformed until it transcends its material logic; welded chains coil with serpentine tension; fiberglass becomes inscribed with cryptic alphabets.
Born in Blois (France), the hometown of Robert-Houdin - the father of modern magic - and the final residence of Leonardo da Vinci, Léon’s work carries this lineage of illusion and invention. Each one of his creations is a conjuring act: an object that reveals itself through transformation.
Léon received an MBA from Bocconi (Milan), and started his career by pioneering the movement of curating contemporary art for brands through his agency Formavision. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Surface, ID, Corriere della Sera, and NHK Japan.
Léon is the recipient of the 2019 Fashion Group International Rising Star Award and the 2024 Galerie Magazine Creative Mind Award.
EXHIBITION LIST
PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS
2022 Léontophone, Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA
2021 Washed Away, Case Gallery, Joshua tree, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Mirage, Ralph Pucci, New York, NY
A Crack In My Cosmic Egg, Praz Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA
2023 Mirage, Ralph Pucci, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Hydrochrom, Twentieth, Los Angeles, CA
Alchemy, Great Jones Distilling Co., New York, NY
Unified Fields, Please Do No Enter, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Geochrom, Design Miami, commissioned by Gemfields, Miami, FL
2018 The Kingdom of Waves, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Diffracted Symphony, NorthPark Center, Dallas, TX
2017 Sunset Strips, Samsung The Frame, New York, NY
Time Is Gone, Please Do Not Enter, West Hollywood, CA
2016 Hold The Line, Jean de Merry, West Hollywood, CA
2015 Echoes, Solivagant, New York, NY
2014 Carileon, Plaza Athénée, Paris, France
The Conference of the Birds - Haixinsha Island, Guangzhou, China
2013 Vortex, Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX
Os Kuduristas, Cité de La Villette, Paris
2012 Os Kuduristas ,Transformatorhuis, Amsterdam
2011 Golden Horns, NEF, Istanbul, Turkey
MMIX, Max Mara, New York, NY, the Association for Cultural Equity
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Magnetic Dream, Bienvenu Steinberg & C, Nada House, Governors Island, NY
2022 The Way Things Go, Bienvenu Steinberg & C, New York, NY
2021 All Tomorrow’ Parties, Curated by Michael Slenske, Domicile, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Talk To Me, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Transform, curated by Elise Van Middelem, Samsung 837, New York, NY
2016 Chambre A Part, curated by Laurence Dreyfus, Art Basel Miami, FL
2014 Royal Oak, Art Basel, Basel, Miami, Hong Kong
2013 Between Now and Then, Ullens Center for Contemporary Arts, Beijing, China
Between Now and Then, Arena, Geneva, Switzerland
Between Now and Then, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore
2012 Between Now and Then, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Between Now and Then, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
Between Now and Then, Salone della Triennale, Milan, Italy
2010 Flip The Script, Diesel Denim Gallery , New York, NY
Legend, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
2009 Light & Speed, US Tour, Lexus and the Whitney Museum of American Art
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
2024 Songe Magnétique, Praz Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA
NADA, Governor’s Island, Bienvu Steinberg & C, NY
2015 Jinlap, Solivagant, New York, NY
Jinlap, Performa, New York, NY
2014 Paris Texas, Plaza Athénée, Paris
2013 Jeux d’Artifices, MoMA, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2024 Psychodessins, Hat & Beard Press
2010 Remastered, Gestalten
DISCOGRAPHY
2024 From What We Can Remember, With Kaia Fischer
2014 Jinlap, With Kaia Fischer
2012 Jeux d’Artifices, Solo Record
2009 Cranes of Glitter, Solo Record
PUBLIC LECTURES
2021 The Art & Design Practice, Neuehouse, New York, NY
2018 Curating for brands, American Association of Graphic Artists, New York, NY
2015 The Culture of Commerce, Harvard MBA, Cambridge, MA