About

Leif Lundström is a visual artist born in Ekenäs (Tammisaari), Finland, in 1953. His background is varied and unconventional. In 1973, he simply began to paint, working both independently and alongside other artists.

His style is unmistakably his own. This is reinforced by the fact that he makes his own paints, creating a colour palette that is entirely unique to his work.

Although Lundström has worked primarily as an independent artist since 1973, he has also combined painting with activities through which he has sought to put socially transformative and innovative ideas into practice. “Art, society and sweat” found expression during the 1980s and 1990s in projects ranging from a biodynamic bakery and exhibition spaces to a residential community shared with adults with intellectual disabilities, as well as land art and cultivation. In the 1990s, he also built a studio using straw and clay. He has devoted considerable attention to natural pigments and other natural materials used in making colours.

The exhibitions he has organised have likewise departed from convention. They have been staged at railway stations, in buildings awaiting demolition, on factory walls, in beer bars, schools, halls, vegetarian restaurants and art schools. The idea has been to bring art closer to audiences who might otherwise feel reluctant to enter galleries. In 1998, he took part in the Pro Artibus exhibition Syner – Näkyjä – Sights at Knipnäs Hospital in Ekenäs. He has, however, also exhibited in conventional gallery settings.

In 1997, Lundström participated in a Neljäs Kehä exhibition at Hyvinkää Art Museum, together with Rosa Liksom, Erkki Pirtola, Unto Ahjotuli and Ilkka Juhani Takalo-Eskola. For many years during the 2000s, he remained active in the circle of artists known as Neljäs Kehä and also contributed to the avant-garde art journal Kymengarde.

The exhibition Kantri ja urbaani was held at Galleria Pihatto in Lappeenranta in 2005. Working with a changing group of artists but within the same circle of initiators, Lundström was also actively involved in the Malakiitti exhibitions held outside Lahti.

During the 2010s, he held a number of small exhibitions at Art Frida in Helsinki.

Lundström’s works are represented in the Pro Artibus collection, as well as in the collections of the Museum of Western Uusimaa and the Cultural Services of the City of Raseborg.

Links:

Yle, Art at Cost Price (2014)

Västra Nyland, An Art Space with an Open Concept (2013)