Matti Lepistö Sculpture Park in Pattijoki

Matti Lepistö (1948–2020) was an outsider artist from Pattijoki, known for his concrete sculptures that are imaginatively rich in their topics. Lepistö displayed his sculptures at his home yard in Mansikkakari, Pattijoki, where he had over 250 large concrete sculptures on the lawn field.

Thirty-four of the sculptures have been moved to the city center of Raahe, to new Matti’s Cosmos Sculpture Park, but most of the sculptures are still in the original sculpture park in Pattijoki.

The city of Raahe purchased Matti Lepistö’s sculpture park along with its property in 2025, after which the sculptures were inventoried and catalogued.

Lepistö was a textbook example of an outsider artist – a doer, who creates art within their own living environment and whose art reflects their own culture and experiences. Outsider art is also characterized by being self-taught and that the techniques are unique to their makers. This was also the case with Lepistö; by profession, Lepistö was a machinist.

Lepistö’s passion for sculpting ignited during an adult education course in the 1980s, and this led to a lifelong career creating individual art. Lepistö left his work as a machinist in the 1990s and, in his own words, became a full-time “starving artist.” He developed his own sculpting technique for his sculptures. He made an iron skeleton inside the sculptures, on top of which he placed polystyrene foam and chicken wire as filling. He mixed the concrete with a gut feeling so that it was easy to shape.

He earned his living by selling and exhibiting his sculptures and by drawing and painting portraits. In addition to sculpting, Lepistö also drew, painted, did glasswork, and wrote. He was also an enthusiastic photographer.