Ricardo Lapin: Navigating the Human Condition through the Invaluable Refuge of Art

For Ricardo Lapin, the brush has been a constant companion since his earliest years. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1961, he began studying oil painting at the age of 10, and this discipline became a way of life: also creating and also teaching. His formal education includes:

• Constructivist Foundations: He studied for 4 years at the “Río de la Plata” Workshop in Buenos Aires (constructivist-Joaquín Torres-García).
  
• Academic Mastery: He studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem (B.F.A., 1988).
  

Artistic Philosophy: The Invaluable Refuge

"I believe that the artist should reflect the 'Zeitgeist' of the period in which he works. My own struggles and dilemmas, the culture and the environment in which I live are present in each work.

Painting for me is my most protected and stable place, like an invaluable refuge. Always present, from my earliest childhood, despite changing situations and realities. It is a territory that can be built and changed endlessly, a meeting place for memories, fears, desires. Within the creative process everything has existence, without name or definition; a place where everything is possible and fixable".

Along with aesthetic expression, Ricardo's works seek to examine:

• Limits of Justice and Freedom: Exploring the boundaries of the human condition.
• The Meaning of Life and Death: Reflecting on periods of spiritual loss, depression and continuous devaluation of human life.
  

The Creative Process: Catching the Mystery

"The images come to me. As if waking up from a dream, I catch them drawing them, drawing them before they escape; then I articulate them and find new related images, in an associative process.

I can perceive that many images have an aroma of oral stories, memories, family legends, secret traumas. Sometimes they come from the mystery and stay there, even when they are already painted".

Connecting with the Public: The Unfinished Sentence

"The final work is sometimes a kind of unfinished sentence, to be completed by the public, in many surprising ways, sometimes far removed from my associations and ideas during the creative process. It is always magical and truthful for me to realize the multiple ways of reading my work".

Portfolio and External Links

• Official Website: lapinricardo.com (Note: Sometimes appear as “Not secure”, but is OK, just old from new security obsessions, & I’m not going to put energy or money on it. This site contains a lot of information: works divided by technic categories, bio, exhibitions, prizes, Environmental Art projects, and Art in Community projects, etc.).
• Saatchi Gallery: saatchiart.com/rlapin (The most updated place with works of the last decade).