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Better known to over 35O million people worldwide as the despicable lawyer Michael
Baldwin on The Young and the Restless, or as Kirk McColl from As The World Turns,
Christian Jules LeBlanc is a native of Louisiana and quite an accomplished artist.
Illustrations that began as gifts for his young nephews quickly dovetailed nicely with
his acting career. The producers of the play Ladies in Retirement, the premier
theatrical production of the Coconut Grove Theater's 4Oth, anniversary season,
offered him a commission to transmogrify the human characters of the play into the
animal characters LeBlanc had been developing for children's books. The drawings
followed the course of the old Victorian whodunit, incorporating the clues of the
murder mystery along the way. Christian followed up this success by entering his
first art show. He was awarded "second overall" in the prestigious Culver City Art
Festival in Los Angeles.
Among the proud owners of LeBlanc's works are Julie Harris, Eileen Brennan,
Charles Nelson Reilly, June Havoc and Grace Zabriskie. Currently he is
collaborating on a children's book with William Luce, (The Belle of Amherst author).
Le Blanc is working on his own book as well. Louisiana Moon is due out next year.
The 1999 Orpheus Poster was inspired by LeBlanc's reintroduction to Mardi Gras in
1998 as an Orpheus celebrity monarch. This year's parade theme is "World
Premiers at the old French Opera House," LeBlanc's efforts to capture his
experience of the madness and mayhem of carnival are enhanced by the artist's
meticulous attention to detail. Opera's golden era in New Orleans has been
captured in LeBlanc's work by the 186O's circa costumes used and the opera house
interior, which was recreated using original sketches of the house that burned down
in 1919. Lost in the crowd are characters both fantastical and familiar, ranging from
fellow actors on The Young and the Restless to friends Christopher Rice (Rice is the
author of the New York Times best sellers A Density of Souls and The Snow Garden.
His latest novel, Light Before Day, is on shelves now) and Los Angeles director Sid
Montz.
"Your eye should be in constant motion: discovering something new at every turn,
overhearing bits of conversation, noticing hidden gestures, wondering what lies in
the darkness behind a curtain," says LeBlanc. "Wherever your attention settles a
story should be revealed. Everything should be tinged with magic and mystery." ~©
The Anton Gallery, 2000
Read the program from Christian J. LeBlanc's Anton Gallery art show (January 2000):
No Boundaries by Christopher Rice
Gallery Information
If you would like to purchase prints of Christian J. LeBlanc's artwork, visit the
following website for more information:
Illustrations
Most of the illustrations shown on this page have larger versions - click on an
illustration to see a bigger view of the work. You may also notice that many of the
characters resemble Y&R cast members. Camryn Grimes (Cassie from Y&R) is
the little girl in several of the illustrations, for example.
**All original art by Christian J. LeBlanc published on this site is copyrighted to
Christian J. LeBlanc and is published here with his permission. DO NOT save,
reproduce, copy, link to, or distribute any of this art without express written
consent from Christian J. LeBlanc. Violation of this may result in legal action.
