Lives in Paldiski and works in Tallinn

MEDIUM and SUBJECT MATTER

In his work, Lauri has dealt with the themes of collective visual memory, local material culture, and the fading of environmental landmarks, synthesizing the specific legacies of the region and visual culture through the graphic medium. Since 2010, he has worked as a master printer at the Ubu Noir lithography workshop. He has been awarded the Eduard Wiiralt Art Prize (2022) and the Eduard Wiiralt scholarship (2010).

EDUCATION 

2012, Estonian Academy of Arts, Printmaking

WORKS ARE PRESENTED (Museum and Gallery collection to mention)

National Library (Estonia), Brita Prinz Arte (Spain), Mark Rothko Art Center (Latvia), International Print Biennale Yerevan (Yerevan), private collections

PROJECTS, EXHIBITIONS, RESIDENCIES (2015-2025)

solo shows:

2025 Dot Aleph. GÜ Gallery (Tallinn)

2024 The dreamer is still asleep, Rüki Gallery (Viljandi)

2020 Demiurgi Tupperware. Draakoni Gallery (Tallinn)

2016 Estonian State Design. Hobusepea Gallery (Tallinn)

group shows:

2025 XIX Tallinn Print Triennial, Lasnamäe pavilion of Tallinn Art Hall, Curator Marika Agu (Tallinn)

2025 Wiiralt Prize Exhibition, ARS Project Space (Tallinn)

2022 Wiiralt Prize Exhibition. ARS Project Space (Tallinn)

2019 As Above So Below. Yerevan Museum of Contemporary Art (Armenia)

2019 Spring Exhibition. Tallinn Art Hall (Tallinn)

2019 Wiiralt Prize Estonian Contemporary Graphic Art Exhibition. National Library (Tallinn) 2019 Estonia 100 in Latvia. Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre (Daugavpils, Latvia)

2018 International Lithography Days. Künstlerhaus Munich (Munich, Germany)

2017 Estonian-Italian Joint Exhibition of Graphic Arts MIRROR. Vicenza (Italy)

2017 Estonian-Italian Joint Exhibition of Graphic Arts MIRROR. National Library (Tallinn)

2015 DI ​​CARTA/PAPERMADE. Palazzo Fogazzaro (Schio, Italy)

2015 ALBATROSS. Galleria Vitriini, Porvoon Art Factory (Porvoo, Finland)

2013 Kokummäng. Evald Okas Museum (Haapsalu)

2013 International Print Award Carmen Arozena 2013 (Madrid, Spain)

2013 VI Splitgraphic International Graphic Art Biennial (Split, Croatia)

2013 The 4th Guanlan international Print Biennial. Guanlan Original Printmaking Base. Shenzhen (China).

2011 XVII Tallinn Print Triennial, Kumu Art Museum. Curators Eve Kask, Eha Komissarov and Simon Rees (Tallinn)

2008 9th Baltic States Graphic Arts Biennial “Kaliningrad-Koeninsberg”. Curator Eha Komissarov.

ARTIST VOICE 

I inherited a print studio with an offset printing press from Harri Leppänen. Alongside running the studio, during the pandemic I took on a full-time job at a large commercial printing house as a master printer, working night shifts and everything that comes with that.

I think about printmaking through lived experience — as commercial production and as propaganda. Painting is something entirely different; I have a deep respect for it. I believe that the true potential and core of printmaking have not yet really been discovered. There is an enormous amount of gunpowder stored in its chamber, but when you look at international catalogues, you are confronted with the same dull nonsense as forty years ago.

As a master printer, I’ve printed shit: toilet bowl cleaner labels. And I’ve printed works by some of the best Estonian and Finnish artists, destined for the walls of beautiful homes. From toilets to living rooms — in the very same building.

Printmaking carries within it the whole weight of industrialization and propaganda, all of politics and history. I suppose I’m trying to engage with those aspects in my own artistic practice. A little, at least. So far I’ve mainly worked in offset printing, though I’m also very fond of linocut.