AbAbout the estate
b. in Kristianstad, Sweden, d. in Toronto, Canada
Jaan Poldaas (1948-2018) was born in Sweden to Estonian refugees. He came to Canada as an infant and grew up in Northern Ontario. Initially trained as an architect at the University of Toronto, Poldaas began painting in 1971 in the geometric abstract style for which he is known, but from a consistently experimental and conceptual perspective. He was a founding member of Mercer Union, an artist-run centre in Toronto that is still in operation. Work by Jaan Poldaas can be found nationally in major Canadian museum collections, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada, and internationally such as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in New York, U.S.A (formerly the Albright Knox), and the KUMU (Estonian Art Museum).