Galerie Forsblom, March 28–May 4, 2025

In March, we have the rare honor of becoming a part of modern art history: we will present works by Finnish artist Iria Leino, which have been hidden from the public eye for decades. We have had the opportunity to explore her archives, which contain paintings spanning nearly fifty years. Our first exhibition focuses on the artist’s works from the 1960s. A unique sense of excitement and anticipation surrounds the upcoming show: Iria Leino was a pioneer of the 1960s New York art scene and a mystery within the art world.

Starting her career as a fashion designer and model, Iria Leino is an unparalleled phenomenon in Finnish art. She left her hometown of Helsinki for Paris, and later moved to the United States, settling in New York’s SoHo district. There, she developed a style initially inspired by American Color Field painting, evolving toward a more meditative approach to painting. Her technique shifted from traditional brushwork to more experimental methods, utilizing various spatulas and scrapers. In the 1970s, she adopted a method combining raw pigments with acrylic emulsions.

Iria Leino’s works combine elements of Finnish nature with the tradition of American abstract painting in a way that has no other parallels in art history. Her later years were marked by a complete devotion to the spirituality of painting, meditation, and solitude, which led to very few of her contemporaries having the opportunity to view her works, even though they had been displayed in museums as early as the 1960s. This upcoming exhibition offers a rare chance to experience these largely unseen treasures.