Roy G. Sfeir

Roy G. Sfeir (b. 1952) is a Lebanese artist who was born in Beirut and has lived in France since his mid-20s. He graduated with a DEA (Diplôme d'Études Artistiques) in Plastic Arts from the Faculty of Paris VIII in 1978. 

Since 2010, Sfeir has also produced art under the name Jérôme Legrand to separate aspects of his artistic identity.

Early on in his career, Sfeir created work that was largely figurative and focused on crowd-filled scenes of city life. However, before long he made the transition to abstract art, creating distinctive compositions in which he often combines geometric, organic forms, completed in a bold, vibrant palette of acrylics on canvas.

Significantly, while these elements are created in contrasting shades, Sfeir ensures they interact with each other, which gives the overall compositions motion, fluidity and rhythm.

Commenting on his practice, Sfeir said: “The shapes and colors fall into place with the first sprays, sometimes, or are slow to decide, it is only with the tenth or fifteenth coat of paint that something sane takes shape.”

Writing in 1979, the renowned French-Lebanese poet and essayist Salah Stétié said: “Roy Sfeir is a refined colorist who, in a few touches, crossed and structured by a few lines, also barely there, manages to say very quickly, and well, what he wants to say: the beautifully vibrant and nervous fascination that the surface of the world, in its movement, exerts on a sensitivity of nature as if aerial.”

Sfeir’s work is on permanent show at the Samagra Gallery in Paris, which he opened in 1989. He also established the Roy Sfeir Gallery in 2002.

Sfeir’s work has featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide across the decades. Recent solo shows include: ‘Recent Paintings’, Samagra Gallery, Paris (2024); Salon Artkarlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (2023); Coignards Square, Nogent sur Marne [with the sculptor Martine Sousselier], France (2022); Salon Artkarlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (2022); Artist’s Residence, Masterclass and Solo Show, Beit Tabaris Art Centre, Beirut (2022); ‘Jérôme Legrand’, Samagra Gallery and Roy Sfeir Gallery, Paris (2021); Salon Artkarlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (2020); and ‘Back Home’, Zamaan Gallery, Beirut (2019).

Sfeir has also taken part in many group exhibitions over the decades, including the prestigious Manifestation of Contemporary Art (MAC 2000), held at the Grand Palais, Paris in 1987, and, most recently, ‘Whispers of Light, held in Maya Artspace, Beirut (2025). Other group shows that featured his work include Palm Springs Motor Show, California (2000).

Sfeir has regularly taken part in high-profile art fairs and other events around the world over the years, including: the Affordable Art Fair, London Art Fair and Art Fair in the UK; and the Affordable Art Fair, New York and Art Miami in the US. He has also exhibited in the Far East, in Japan and South Korea.

Other achievements include appearing in a television documentary for TV Liban, titled ‘Beyrouth – Paris – Beyrouth’ about four Lebanese artists living in Paris, by Bahij Hojeij (1987).