LEONHARD LAPIN
PRESS RELEASE
Leonhard Lapin (b. 1947 in Räpina, Estonia) is an architect and visual artist who concretely demonstrates the significance of comprehensive visual thinking and interdisciplinary connections in art. Lapin is a vitalist who works across almost all areas of art: he is a constructivist graphic artist and painter, a graphic designer, performance artist, filmmaker, theater creator, and architectural theorist. He studied at the Estonian State Art Institute from 1966 to 1971. Since 1977, he has been a member of the Artists’ Union, and since 1982, a member of the Architects’ Union.
The constructivist dictum “Less is more, everything in a single point!” led to the birth of new architecture and new art in the 1920s. Leonhard Lapin’s work, beginning in the early 1970s, is rooted in the same tradition. He draws inspiration from Malevich, Mondrian, Lissitzky, and Rodchenko. Malevich, in particular, has provided Lapin with elements for his formal language as well as concepts of time and space.
In visual art, Lapin’s structural works often transition into conceptual art through seriality. The exhibition features several pieces from his well-known Machines series (1973-79), which critically comments on our technocratic, machine-driven world. Estonian contemporary architecture, represented by Lapin, has strong roots in the functionalist tradition. Lapin’s residential house designs span constructivist, neo-functionalist, cubist, and futuristic styles, even extending into the symbolic. He has also worked on urban reconstruction, restoration projects, public buildings, parks, and architectural installations. His architecture, in particular, sparks discussion about holistic design.
Since 1968, Leonhard Lapin has participated as a graphic artist and painter in numerous exhibitions in his homeland as well as in Finland, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, West Germany, Spain, France, the USA, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Argentina.
He has held solo exhibitions in the Soviet Union since 1973. Lapin has received international graphic art awards in Ljubljana in 1973 and Tokyo in 1975.
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