Tone Lapajne

T
one Lapajne sodi v danes očitno ogroženo umetniško vrsto, med boeme. Pri
nas jih sicer nikoli ni bilo prav dosti, tisti redki pravi (pozerjev je seveda bilo - in jih
je še vedno - bistveno več) pa so se od nekdaj morali sprijazniti z ne ravno ljubečo
reakcijo svojega okolja. Med njene znake sodijo tudi razni vzdevki, ki si jih je, ne
nazadnje, kar nekaj prislužil tudi Lapajne, med temi pa je eden bolj slikovitih "bar-
janski pračlovek".

Neglede na namen, s kakršnim so nastali, pa vzdevki - podobno kakor legende - vedno
vsebujejo vsaj kal resnice. Kar se konkretnega primera tiče, je očitno pravilen pred-
vsem njegov topografski del: Lapajne je odrasel na obrobju Ljubljanskega barja, v
t. i. Sibiriji, in obe njegovi okolji, barjansko in "sibirsko", sta ga odločilno zaz-
namovali kot človeka in kot umetnika. Pa tudi drugi, sicer ničkaj prijazno zveneči
del označbe, ni docela zgrešen: Lapajne in njegova umetnost učinkujeta arhetipsko
in za slednjo se vsaj na prvi pogled zdi, kakor da se je tisočletni razvoj likovne umet-
nosti skoraj ni dotaknil in da neposredno ter neobremenjeno priča o resničnem
likovnem prasvetu.

Seveda pa bi bilo docela zgrešeno misliti, da je Lapajne "likovni primitivec" v nega-
tivnem pomenu takšne označbe. To dokazuje že podatek, da se je v poznih šestdesetih
letih prejšnjega stoletja v slovenskem likovnem okolju najprej uveljavil z minimalis-
tičnimi skulpturami, kot eden naših ključnih pionirjev (vsaj zaenkrat) zadnjega
vélikega modernističnega sloga, ki se je tačas že uveljavil v Ameriki in se v ospred-
je prebijal tudi drugod po Evropi. Kasneje, v sedemdesetih letih, je prevladal tudi v
Sloveniji, vendar se je takrat Lapajne že obrnil v samosvojo smer - dejansko je bilo
njegovo sorazmerno kratko minimalistično obdobje edino, v katerem se je ujel s pre-
vladujočimi težnjami svojega časa.

Kranjska razstava kaže osnovne in najnovejše rezultate tega razvoja in je zato
razdeljena na dva dela. Prvega sestavljajo t. i. Najdišča, skupina študijskih platen,
na katerih je Lapajne od leta 1976 po eni strani razvijal ključne koncepte svoje nove
smeri (od tod številni zapisi, pa tudi gledalcu namenjena pojasnila na takšnih delih),
po drugi pa je na njih zbiral - skoraj bi lahko rekli: katalogiziral - material, ki mu je
omogočal popolno izvedbo teh konceptov, slovensko zemljo, ter z njo izvajal
osnovne likovne eksperimente.

V nadaljnjem razvoju je Lapajnetovo slikarstvo prešlo več faz, od katerih pa razs-
tava, kakor rečeno, kaže samo najnovejšo. V bistvu gre za dva osnovna tipa slik, ki
bi ju lahko najbolj preprosto označili kot "svetle" in "temne", v obeh primerih pa je
simbolični (a ne tudi dejanski) center kompozicije svetlobno jedro. Ta motiv je star
- v evropskem okviru izvira iz beneškega slikarstva 15. stoletja, radi so ga uporab-
ljali tudi najrazličnejši baročni mojstri, v 20. stoletju pa se je še posebej uveljavil v
informelu; pri nas ga srečujemo zlasti v zgodnjih šestdesetih letih, še posebej pri
Komelu in zgodnjem Jemcu, z njim pa je npr. eksperimentiral tudi Kregar. Pozneje je
(tudi) iz slovenske umetnosti v glavnem izginil, v Lapajnetovi varianti pa se nam kaže
zanimivo spremenjen - običajno večjo ploskev je nadomestilo veliko bolj drobno
jedro, ki (še zlasti opazno na "temnih" variantah) izžareva svetlobo samo v svojo
neposredno okolje, večji del platna pa je prepuščen simboličnemu (a ne tudi likovne-
mu - dejansko gre za skrbno pretehtane in uravnotežene kompozicije) kaosu "zemlje
v nebu". Simbolika takšnih del je očitna, a hoté nedorečena: o tem, da Lapajnetove
slike soočajo mikro- in makrokozmos, ni dvoma, gledalcu pa je prepuščeno, da si nji-
hovo končno sporočilo določi sam.

Lev Menaše

T
one Lapajne undoubtedly belongs to that nowadays obviously endangered art
species, the Bohemians. They have never been plenty in our parts, and the rare true
ones (there have of course always been - and still are - essentially more poseurs)
have always had to put up with the not particularly affectionate reaction of their
environment. Among the signs of such an attitude belong various nicknames, and
Lapajne has "earned" quite a few of them, one of the more picturesque ones being
the "prehistoric man from the moors".

Regardless of the purpose that perpetrated them, nicknames - similarly to legends
- always contain at least a hint of truth. In this concrete case, it is above all its
topographic part that is correct: Lapajne grew up on the brinks of the Ljubljana
moors, in the so-called Siberia, and both his environments, the marshy and the
"Siberian" ones, left a decisive mark on him as a man and as an artist. The second,
not-so-friendly sounding part of the characterization, is not quite unsuitable
either: Lapajne and his art do have an archetypal effect, and at least the latter
seems, at the first sight at least, to be practically untouched by the thousand-year-
long development of plastic art, and to bear witness, directly and in an unbur-
dened way, to the true primeval world of plastic art.

It would of course be completely wrong to think that Lapajne is a "primitive" in the
negative sense of this denotation. This can be proved by the fact that in the late
1960s, he first won recognition in the Slovene art world for his minimalist sculp-

tures, having been one of our key pioneers of the (so far at least) last great mod-
ernist style which by that time had gained acclaim in America and was becoming
prominent elsewhere in Europe. Later on, in the 1970s, it also prevailed in Slovenia,
but by then Lapajne had already taken his own course - his relatively short mini-
malist period was in fact the only one in which he was in accord with the prevailing
tendencies of his time.

The present exhibition in Kranj displays the fundamental as well the most recent
results of his development, and is therefore divided into two parts. The first part
consists of the so-called Sites , a group of study canvases on which Lapajne was,
since 1976, on the one hand developing the key concepts of his new orientation
(hence the numerous notes and comments to the viewer on these works), while on
the other hand he was collecting - one might almost say: cataloguing - materials
which would make a perfect realization of these concepts possible, the Slovene
soil, and using it to carry out his basic plastic experiments.

In its further development Lapajne's painting passed through a number of phases;
the present exhibition, however, only shows the most recent one. Essentially, there
are two basic types of paintings, which could simply be marked as the "light" and the
"dark" ones; in both cases, the symbolic (but not the actual) centre of the compo-
sition is the light nucleus. This is an old motif - in European art it originates from
the 15th century Venetian painting, it was often used by various baroque masters,
and in the 20th century it particularly gained value in the art informel; in
Slovenia, it was mainly popular in the early 1960s, especially with Komel and early
Jemec, and Kregar, too, experimented with it. Later on it almost disappeared (also)
from the Slovene art, but it reappears interestingly altered in Lapajne's variant -
the usual rather large plane was substituted by a much tinier nucleus which (par-
ticularly in the "dark" variants) radiates light only to its immediate surroundings,
while the larger part of the canvas is relinquished to the symbolic (but not also
artistic - the compositions are actually carefully studied and balanced) chaos of
the "earth in the sky". The symbolism of such works is obvious, but deliberately not
articulated: there can be no doubt about the fact that Lapajne's paintings con-
front the micro- and the macro cosmos, but it is up to the viewer to determine what
is their final message.

Lev Menaše

Biografija

Tone lapajne je bil rojen 16. junija 1933 v Ljubljani. Na Akademiji za likovno umetnost v
Ljubljani je od leta 1956 do 1961 pri prof. K. Putrihu in B. Kalinu študiral kiparstvo in leta
1964 dokončal še študij na specialki za kiparstvo. V istem letu se je izpopolnjeval še v Franciji
in kasneje na potovanjih po Belgiji, Nemčiji, Italiji in Angliji. Od leta 1965 ima status ‘svo-
bodnega umetnika’. V letu 1965 je razstavljal s skupino BE-54, v letih od 1968 do 1972 pa s
skupino Neokonstruktivisti. Doslej se je predstavil na skoraj šestdesetih samostojnih razs-
tavah in sodeloval na številnih skupinskih predstavitvah doma in v tujini. Bil je udeleženec
osmih kiparskih simpozijev (Maribor, Prilep, Kostanjevica na Krki, Šmohor...) in je avtor
desetih javnih skulptur doma in v tujini. Uveljavil se je še kot slikar, ki namesto s klasičnimi
slikarskimi tehnikami ustvarja z naravnimi barjanskimi zemljami. V likovni delavnici Genius
loci Lera 2004 - 2006 je ustvarjal s solinskim blatom in soljo. Prejel je več pomembnih
nacionalnih nagrad, leta 1977 tudi nagrado Prešernovega sklada za kiparstvo. Živi in dela v
Ljubljani.

Biography

Tone Lapajne was born in Ljubljana on June 16, 1933. He studied sculpture at the Ljubljana
Academy of Fine Arts with Professors K. Putrih and B. Kalin from 1956 to 1961, and com-
pleted his specializing in sculpture in 1964. In the same year he perfected his knowledge in
France and while travelling in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Britain. He has been a free-lance
artist since 1965. In 1965 he exhibited his works together with the group BE-54, and from 1968
to 1972 with the group Neoconstructivists. He has so far had about sixty one-man shows, and
has taken part at numerous group shows at home and abroad. He participated at eight sculp-
ture symposia (Maribor, Prilep, Kostanjevica on the Krka, Šmohor, etc.), and is the author
of ten public sculptures at home and abroad. He has also won recognition as a painter who,
instead of classical painting techniques, uses natural moor soil to create his works. In the
plastic art workshop Genius loci Lera 2004-2006 he used salt works mud and salt. He was
awarded several important national prizes, among them the Prešeren Fund Award for sculp-
ture in 1977. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

Priložene reprodukcije

Najdišča raznobarvnih zemelj na območju Slovenije, plastifcirane zemlje na juti, 130 x 107 cm, 1976 ➨
Najdišča raznobarvnih zemelj na območju Slovenije, plastifcirane zemlje na juti, 130 x 107 cm, 1976 ➨
Najdišča raznobarvnih zemelj na območju Slovenije, plastifcirane zemlje na juti, 130 x 107 cm, 1976 ➨
Zemeljska materija kot sestavni del vesolja (Zemlja v nebu), plastifcirane zemlje na platnu, 130 x 107 cm, 2006
Zemeljska materija kot sestavni del vesolja (Zemlja v nebu), plastifcirane zemlje na platnu, 130 x 107 cm, 2006
Zemeljska materija kot sestavni del vesolja (Zemlja v nebu), plastifcirane zemlje na platnu, 130 x 107 cm, 2006

Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev
za likovno umetnost
Kranj

Glavni trg 18
4000 Kranj
04/202 57 16
www.gpn-kranj.si
[email protected]

Organizacija: Nada Bogataj, Marko Arnež
Besedilo: dr. Lev Menaše ● Prevod: Jana Kranjec Menaše ● Korekture: Marija Šubic

Foto: Tone Lapajne , Gašper Mrak ● Oblikovanje: Marko Tušek
● Tisk: Tiskarna GTO Košir

Kranj, april 2007

Mestna občina Kranj
Slovenski trg 1, 4000 Kranj

www.kranj.si























Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev
za likovno umetnost
Kranj
Glavni trg 18
4000 Kranj
04/202 57 16
www.gpn-kranj.si
[email protected]

Mestna občina Kranj
Slovenski trg 1, 4000 Kranj

www.kranj.si

Ta publikacija
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(na fotografijah)