Mare Tralla
Big and mighty personalities in Estonian mythology are known on account of their shaping the landscape by ploughing furrows into it or creating lakes by weeping. LapinÅs activities have long ago crossed the boundary until which an artist remains simply an artist, so the Lapin phenomenon could be regarded as potentially mythical. How has Leonhard Lapin shaped the landscape of Estonian art? Firstly, as a creator of a chaotic order: for years he has arranged squares, cubes, lines, circles, rectangles and other abstract forms as rhythmic compositions. As a result of this activity, the ‘Estonian ForestÅ has become a pile of long angular stakes, which, when exported to São Paulo in 1994, greatly widened the sphere of influence of Estonian art. Years earlier images created by Leonhard Lapin conquered other areas using ‘hammer and sickleÅ. LapinÅs is a frame of mind which is rebellious and influenced by the avant garde, especially by the experience of earlier Russian avant garde artists, obtaining inspiration from it. Lapin is not afraid of stepping into unknown territory and it is difficult to find something he has not already tried his hand at during his creative years. Lapin is the Big Figure of Estonian Art whose activities have left enough traces to spark off innumerable further discoveries.