László Lakner, born in 1936 in Budapest, Hungary, is a multidisciplinary artist who experiments, among other things, with writing and photography as a medium for self-expression and critical examination of social conflicts.
A fundamentally multidisciplinary character, painter, photographer but also conceptual artist, László Lakner was born in Budapest in 1936.
Trained in Hungary, he obtained a scholarship from the Folkwang Museum to study in Germany. In 1974, he obtained the definitive right to emigrate to West Berlin.
The social conflicts in Eastern Europe and the multiplication of artistic mediums gradually lead him towards realism. From this, he will derive his pictorial virtuosity, referring to figures from the history of art, and at the same time develop his critical stance. Writing and literature are among his favourite themes: he interprets and transcribes the writer's gesture in his painting, drawing his inspiration from written historical documents, such as letters, wills or telegrams. For László Lakner, the written word thus becomes an expression of his own personality.
In 1974 he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he became famous as an artist and art teacher. The loss of his friend Paul Celan was a personal drama and he discovered graffiti. These factors influence his art, his paintings are in increasingly daring formats, on which he inscribes what appear to be watchwords. He also produces many posters, a field in which he is still active today.
In the 1980s, he turned again to sculpture and photography.
Recognized throughout the world, he participated three times in the Venice Biennale (1972 - 1976 - 1990) and was invited to the Documenta in Kassel in 1977. In 1998, the Hungarian government awarded him the Kossuth Prize, the country's final prize. - Collection in museums : Germany:
Museum Ludwig, Aachen / Nationalgalerie, Berlin / Berlinische Galerie, Berlin / Paula Modersohn-Becker Stiftung, Bremen / Museum Folkwang, Essen / Sammlung der Universität Freiburg im Breisgau / Museum Ludwig, Köln / Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal / Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, ab 2010 Kunsthalle, Bremen - Netherlands : Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam / Poland : Museum der modernen Kunst, Łódź / Hungary : Ungarische Nationalgalerie, Budapest / Museum der Schönen Künste, Budapest / Ludwig-Museum, Budapest / Petöfi-Literatur-Museum, Budapest / Kiscelli-Museum, Budapest / Xántus János Museum, Győr Városi Müvészeti Museum, Győr Hatvany Lajos Museum, Hatvan Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs / Vasarely Museum, Pécs / Szent István Király Museum, Székesfehérvár / Szombathelyi Képtar, Szombathely England : Victoria and Albert Museum, London / Italy : Galleria degli Uffizi (Uffizien), Florenz / Japan : Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.