Gregoire Solotareffwas born in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt, to a doctor father of Lebanese origin and a painter and illustrator mother of Russian origin, Olga Lecaye. He spent his childhood in Egypt, then in Lebanon and finally in ÃŽle-de-France.
He first practiced medicine then decided to devote himself to drawing and writing, and more particularly to children's books. He created his first albums in 1985 when his son demanded images for the stories he told. Since that date, he has published more than 150 books for young people, mainly for the school of leisure, translated in many countries in Europe and Asia. Many of his stories were illustrated by his sister Nadja or by his mother, Olga Lecaye, thus continuing an artistic complicity initiated in childhood.
In 2003, he adapted his album, Loulou, into a medium-length animated film, in close collaboration with screenwriter Jean-Luc Fromental, under the title Loulou et autres loups, composed of several short films and directed by Serge Elissalde.
In 2006, he wrote his first animated feature entitled U, co-directed with Serge Elissalde.
The film will be adapted into an album at the leisure school.
In 2013, his second feature, Loulou, l'incroyable secret, was released on the screens, co-written with Jean-Luc Fromental and co-directed with Eric Omond. The film received the César 2014 for best animated film and was adapted into a comic strip by Rue de Sèvres.
Alongside his activity as an author-illustrator for young people, he assiduously practices photography.
Colors at loulou et compagnie brings together some of his photos. He also realizes, in a personal work in perpetual development, modeling in clay or resin.
A retrospective of his work took place in Japan, at the Gunma Museum of Modern Art, in 2012.
Exploring all the visual arts with the same passion, he wrote a concert piece, set to music by Sanseverino, Isabelle and the Beast.
It was directed by Véronique Bellegarde and created in December 2012 at the MC2 in Grenoble. He also designed the sets.
When he is not preparing an exhibition of his drawings, photographs or sculptures (for example at the Abbaye de Fontevraud in 2014 and in Angers), he directs the collection for toddlers, loulou et Compagnie, at the leisure school. which he created in 1994.
He lives and works in Paris.
