“Hockey Players” (oil on canvas)
The large oil works speak for themselves with their bold colors, amazing patterns, strong forms and emotional weight.
The fabulous exhibit by 89-year-old Cissi Lundgren will continue to be on display through June 26 at the Old City Hall Art Gallery (1313 Market St.) in Redding. It’s worth the time to stop in. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Cissi Lundgren in front of one of her tapestries. (Photo by Hanna Gallery)
Swedish native Lundgren has also lived in Norway, England, Canada, Mexico and the United States. She now lives in Redding near her son, Hans.
She has created art since age 9 and received training at the College of Art in Stockholm. The current exhibit shows the progression of her work from as early as the 1940s. Many of the pieces (mostly oil paintings, but there are also some mixed media and drawings) seem to reflect the influence of tapestry work, which she also does. Stained glass also pops to mind. Much of the work is influenced by cubism.
“No Satisfaction” (oil on masonite)
I found myself lost in the abstract patterns of many of the pieces. The longer I looked, the more interesting they become. I began seeing deeper layers of patterns and wondering if they were intentional.
Sometimes the central forms of Lundgren’s paintings blend into background material in a fascinating way.
“Temper” (oil on canvas)
It doesn’t surprise me that ArtHop creators Adam Mankoski and Troy Hawkins are so excited about the discovery of Lundgren’s work. The exhibit is just a tiny fraction of what she has created over eight decades. There are thousands of her pieces in storage.
Though Lundgren was a founding and active member of the Colour and Form Society of Ontario, Canada, her work hasn’t been shown much at all. She was free to create art for most of her life, but she never really found a community of support to push her works into the public eye.
Mankoski and Hawkins believe it’s not too late for her to catch a much wider audience.
“Her work is stunning,” Hawkins said. “I believe if she would have had the support she needed to get her work out there, she could be quite famous right now. It’s just an incredible body of work.”
Recently, the Colour and Form Society on Ontario contacted Mankoski and Hawkins about using some of Lundgren’s work in a group juried exhibition show at City Hall in Toronto. That could be the first of many doors yet to open for an artist who has been dedicated to her work in the very purist sense for the better part of a century.
