Yrjö Edelmann was born in 1941 and moved from Helsinki in Finland to Sweden with his family ten years later. He started to draw at an early age, initially in comic strip magazines, and worked for many years as an illustrator with the publishers Åhlén & Åkerlund in Stockholm. While there he produced several book covers and other works in the magazine genre. Towards the end of the 1950s he studied freehand drawing at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Influenced by French surrealism with its irrational, dreamlike motifs, he developed his own pictorial language and also experimented with hyperrealism before becoming increasingly engrossed in his packages, wrapping paper and pieces of string.

 

Reality or fantasy? With Yrjös trade marked technique of painting wrinkled wrapping paper — creating undulating packages.

 

Ever since he stepped onto the stage he has devoted himself to oil painting and graphic art. Yrjös works have caught the eye of both public and critics, with exhibitions in New York, Tokyo and Paris. Since 1976 his works have been on display continuously in the USA.