Luc Leestemaker
Luc Leestemaker (1957-2012) 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 art compositions; to the current “ Inner Landscape ” and “ Transfigurations ” Series, which are situated on the borderline of realism and abstraction and inspired both by Mark Rothko and 18 th Century Dutch and English landscape painters (notably Ruysdael, Constable).
