Iria Leino 1932-2022

Iria Leino, who began her career as a fashion designer and model, is a distinctive figure in Finnish art. She left her hometown of Helsinki for Paris and later moved to the United States, settling in New York’s SoHo in the 1960s. Leino’s monumental acrylic paintings of the late 1960s reflect the influence of New York Abstract Expressionism, shaped by her entry into the local art scene and her studies with American artist Larry Poons. In her large-scale, often square-format works, vivid colors are combined with simple abstract forms.

This was followed by a growing interest in Buddhism and yoga, which introduced a quiet sense of spirituality into her work. Her paintings from this era emphasize color, spatiality, and recurring, often curved forms, through which she explores perception, rhythm, and spiritual themes. In her later practice, the painting process became increasingly meditative, with seriality playing a central role. Her technique evolved from traditional brushwork toward more experimental methods, including spatulas and scrapers, and later a combination of raw pigments and acrylic emulsion.

Although active in the New York art scene, Leino worked relatively independently.