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 Luc Leestemaker, Dutch/American,
grew up in the Netherlands, where interests in art,
theater and communication led him into such diverse
professions as remedial teacher; founder of an Amsterdam
based performing arts center; founder of the European
art collective Hart Poetry; founder and editor of
a monthly business and arts magazine; and managing
director of Leestemaker & Associates, a consulting
firm specializing in arts' marketing, financing,
and public relations. But it would be Leestemaker's
long-standing interest in painting (his grandfather
and great-grandfather were artists), that would ultimately
command his devotion.
Throughout the years
he subconsciously knew that he needed time to build
the psychological framework for his art. Upon moving
to the US in 1990, Leestemaker felt he was ready
to fully commit to painting. Not unlike other European
and Dutch artists (particularly Willem de Kooning),
living and working in the US, created a dramatic
transition. His stylistic journey would take him
from early inspiration by the CoBrA movement; through
densely Abstract Expressionist compositions; to
the current ‘Inner Landscapes’ and ‘Transfigurations’ series,
which are situated on the borderline of realism and
abstraction and inspired both by Mark Rothko and
18th Century Dutch and English landscape painters,
notably Ruysdael and Constable.
The larger canvases
are first treated with a thin cement layer mixed
with raw pigment powder, then worked into acrylic
paint and finished with an oil based varnish. This
fresco technique on the canvas creates a layered
luminous sense of the work which seemingly changes
in different shades of light. The smaller canvases
making up the sets of the ‘Inner Landscapes’ are
made with the palette knife and create a rich,
layered look to the work. Landscapes have become
Leestemaker's preferred subject matter as he feels
that it is in these atmospheric landscapes that
he can both express his emotion/intuition of the
abstract compositions as well as the universally
understood language of landscape painting.
Leestemaker sees the role of the
artist as the shaman, or the Greek priest, translating
the message of the gods into worldly understood action
and matter. The painter does this visually. The tragic
mistake of the romantic idea of the artist is that
he has lost half of this message. This has cast the
artist in the eternal role of the outsider, whereas
Leestemaker believes that the role of the artist
is to fill the world with spirituality and make it
whole.
He does not subscribe
to the recent 19th/20th century romantic notion
that the artist must be a solitary, suffering individual
who locks himself away in a state of despair, creating
art that can only be understood by a select few.
He has often found that the limitations and challenges
in collaborating with a multitude of disciplines
(developer, architect, designer, art-consultant),
become very rewarding when new solutions or ideas
emerge as a result of those challenges. Those solutions
and challenges become part of the development and
creative process reflected in his own artwork in
the studio.
His openness to collaboration
has led to installations in locations such as Miramax
Films, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, the MGM Hotel & Casino
and the International Airport in Las Vegas, The Diplomat
Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, The Newman Scoring Stages
at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, The Omni
Hotel in San Diego, Four Seasons Hotel, Bahamas,
the Miyako Hotel and Mitsubishi in Tokyo, Japan.
His work has been featured in
numerous film and television production, such as Bringing
Down The House, Spiderman, Erin Brockovitch, Simone,
America's Sweethearts, Shopgirl among others.
His paintings are exhibited by galleries around the
world. Comprehensive retrospective Museum solo exhibitions
were scheduled for the artist in the main exhibition
hall at the Bakersfield Museum of Art in California
and the West Valley Art Museum in Phoenix AZ, in
2004.
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