Leonhard Lapin

Suprealist art, suprealist life

Suprealism is a "movement" pioneered by Leonhard Lapin that combines suprematism and realism; it mirrors the "suprealist world", where art is packaged for consumer culture. [ more ]

Leonhard Lapin

Suprealist manifesto

"Suprealism brings popular kitsch into the art gallery and high culture to the masses; it introduces into art the naivety of the producer of kitsch while retaining the elitism of the professional artist." [ more ]

About the artist

Leonhard Lapin (b.1947 in Räpina, Estonia) is an architect and graphic artist.

Education

1966-71 Studied architecture at the Estonian Art Institute

Academic posts

1991-2003 Editor-in-chief of Estonian Architectural Review EHITUSKUNST
1992-1998 Professor at the Helsinki Art School "MAA", Finland
since 1994 Visiting professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture
since 1995 Professor at the Tallinn Art Academy, Head of the Chair of Composition and Colour Studies
2001-2002 Free Arts Professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia

Recent solo exhibitions

1995 Finnish Museum of Architecture, Helsinki
1996 Helsinki Art Hall Studio, Finland
Latvian Museum of Foreign Art, Riga
1997 Tartu Art Museum
1999 Pärnu City Gallery, Estonia
Kuressaare Gastle Gallery, Estonia
2000 Latvian Press House Gallery, Riga
Gallery "RAATUSE", Tallinn
2001 Zimmerly Art Museum, USA
Art Museum of the University of Tartu, Estonia
2002 Galery "PROMENAD", Hyvinkää, Finland
Ciurlonis National Museum, Kaunas, Lithaunia
2003 Tartu Art Museum, Estonia
2004 Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2005 Haus Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
Estonian Bank Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia

Recent installations

1992 Broken Time, Rostock Art Museum, Germany
1994 Estonian Forest I, São Paulo 22. Biennial
2003 Clock of Freedom, Tallinn City (together with Kristel Jaanus)

Recent group exhibitions

1992 Contemporary Art from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Canada
1994 Graveurs Baltes, Gallery Détour, Jambes, Belgium
International Multimedia Workshop Island Project, Gdansk, Poland
1996 Silence of Maa, Väinö Aaltonen Museum, Finland
2004 WWW.Transeuropa, Kulturverband Favoriten, Wien
2005 12 Künstler aus Tallinn, Actioncenter, Munich, Germany

Recent themed exhibitions

1995 From Gulag to Glasnost, Zimmerli Art Museum, US
1997 Conteptual Works of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, Rutgers University, US
1998 Kanagawa Graphic Triennial, Japan
2000 Duchamp's Suitcase, Arnofini Gallery, Bristol, England
2001 Mini Print biennial, Cluj, Romania
2002 Estonian Architecture, Gallery of Free Art Academy of Hamburg, Germany
2003 Estonian Architecture, Moscow Art Hall, Russia
Estonian Graphic, Lemonstreet Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Friends of Iceland, Hafnarborg, Iceland
2005 Identity, Tallinn Art Hall
II Peijing Art Biennial, China
2006 Empty Space, Gallery Bercholdvilla, Salzburg, Austria
Estonian Art Museum, KUMU, permanent exposition, Tallinn

Recent books

Tühjus ja ruum (Void and space), Tallinn: Estonian Art Academy 1998.
Tühjus (Void), Tallinn: Estonian Art Academy 2003.
Avangard (Estonian avant-garde art), Tartu: Tartu University 2003.
Tühjus ja ruum II (Void and Space II), Tallinn: Estonian Art Academy 2004.
Dokument ja loovus (Document and creativity), Tallinn: Sirbi Raamat 2005.
On Architecture – in Life and Ethics, Umea, 2006.

Recent prizes

1997 The Estonian State's Cultural Prize
1997 The Baltic Watercolor Triennial Prize
2001 The Estonian State's Order of the White Star of IV Class
2003 Estonian Graphic Association Yearly Prize

Published 2007-07-06

Original in Estonian
© Leonhard Lapin
© Eurozine