Björn Runquist was born in Stockholm, Sweden, grew up in New York and spent his high school years in France before returning to the U.S. for college. Upon completion of college he moved to London, England. After four years in London and receiving a Master's degree from Kings College, University, of London, he returned to the U.S. and for 35 years made his home in Connecticut where he taught while also working as a professional artist. During that time he summered in Maine and since 2013 has been a full time resident of Clark Island, ME. He has work in the permanent collection of the Farnsworth Museum and has exhibited widely in galleries on the East Coast from Florida to Maine, including the Caldbeck in Rockland, the Connecticut Biennial at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and the Allan Stone Gallery in New York. He is in many private and corporate collections and has a number of paintings in the State Department’s Arts in Embassies program which places art in U.S. Embassies around the world. He is currently represented by Landing Gallery in Rockland, ME, and River Rd. Gallery in Wilton Ct. He was featured in Maine Home & Design in April 2010 and listed as one of Maine’s 60 artists “to collect now, while you can”. He was also featured again in Maine Home & Design in the August 2010 issue.
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“Björn Runquist encompasses a broad approach to landscape painting. The American luminist tradition, the European plein air school and his modern sensibility merge into a very personal style. A certain air of romanticism permeates his work reinforced by a wonderful feeling for light and color. Beyond that, his play between light and air weaves his forms into an abstract formality. An all over sense of design transcends reality and becomes a painting reality.”
- Will Barnet, New York, Feb. 2005
“Björn Runquist’s work is both unconventional and refreshing, witty and yet
serious…there is a wonderful joyous quality which is out of the ordinary. It is an
art which is both intriguing and rich in visionary fascination.”
- Nancy Hall-Duncan, The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT.
“An artist such as Runquist is capable of establishing a rapturous visionary world
…caught in the dilemma of the known and the unknown.”
- Bernard Hanson, The Hartford Courant
“Runquist’s work is highly original, filled with vitality, wit and beauty.”
- Carolyn Lanchner, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY.
RESUME
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2019 Granite Gallery, Tenants Harbor Maine
2014 Landing Gallery, Rockland, ME.
2009-18 Oceanview Grange, Port Clyde, ME
2010 Gleason Fine Art, Portland, ME
2002-2008 The Sea Studio Gallery, Tenants Harbor, ME.
2005 Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT.
2003 Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT.
1992-01 Oceanview Grange, Port Clyde, ME.
2001 Bachelier -Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT.
1998 Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT.
1996 Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, Kent, CT.
Unibank Gallery, 21 East 54th St, NY.NY.
1991 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME.
1990 Connecticut Gallery, Marlborough, CT.
1989 Paul Mellon Art Gallery, Wallingford, CT.
1988 Man Bites Dog Gallery, Durham, NC.
1987 Munson Gallery, New Haven, CT.
1986 Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT.
Silvermine Gallery, Silvermine, CT.
1985 Fischer Gallery, Avon, CT.
1984 Paul Mellon Art Gallery, Wallingford, CT.
GROUP
2019 Greenhut Gallery, Portland Maine
2014, 2013 Landing Gallery: Maine Landscapes
2010 Gleason Fine Art, “A Conference of Birds”, Portland, ME.
2009 Bachelier-Cardonsky, Kent, CT
2008 CMCA, Rockport, ME: First Traces
2008 Bachelier-Cardonsky, Kent, CT
2007 Horton Hayes, Charleston, SC
2006 Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
2003 Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA.
2002 Farnsworth Museum, “New Acquisitions”, Rockland, ME.
1999 Bachelier-Cardonsky, Kent, CT.
1999 Art of the Northeast, Silvermine, New Canaan, CT. Curated by Allan Stone
1997 Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, “The Horse”, Kent, CT.
1995 Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, Kent, CT.
1995 Roger Smith Gallery, 47th and Lexington, NY.NY. Curated by Molly Barnes
1995 Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, 289 Hudson St. NY. NY.
1991 Bruce Museum: “CT Biennial ‘91”, Greenwich, CT.
1989 Connecticut Gallery, Marlborough, CT.
1988 Allan Stone Gallery, NY. NY.
1986 Moosart Gallery, Miami, FL.
1985 Now Gallery, NY. NY.
1984 MS Gallery: “The Figure”, Hartford, CT.
“Art of the Northeast”, Silvermine, New Canaan, CT.
A partial list of works in collections includes:
Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME.
Aetna Insurance, Hartford, CT.
CDC Financial, Farmington, CT.
Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT.
Gold/Smith Gallery, Boothbay Harbor, ME.
LL Bean
L M Ericsson Corp., NY. NY.
Mr. and Mrs. Will Barnet
Kent School, Kent, CT.
Mr. and Mrs. Tracy Kidder
Latham & Watkins, San Francisco, CA.
Phoenix Insurance Corp. Hartford, CT.
Remack Ramsey, Monhegan, ME.
Mr. Jeffrey Storer, Durham, NC
Ms. Jennifer Sturges, Irvine, CA
Mr. William Johnson, Scarsdale, NY
Mr. and Mrs. Rolando Villegas, Albuquerque, MN
Mr and Mrs. Bengt Wallstrom, Clark Island, ME
Mr. Joseph Messler, Camden, ME