Kennet Lekko

Kennet Lekko is an up-and-coming artist from Tallinn, Estonia, living and working in Berlin. Through various successful projects Lekko has already gained attention from collectors and magazines. His has his MA degree from UdK Berlin under professor Thomas Zipp. 

At first glance Lekko’s paintings might seem fast and overpacked with randomly associated imagery, but on closer inspection they turn out to be complex symbolic networks reflecting the contemporary struggle of being young and finding one’s place in modern society.

In a manner fitting to the times when selfie culture is running wild and everyone seems to be more self-obsessed than ever his starting point comes from observing these processes and his personal experience regarding these dynamics. Lekko, while criticising and often being ironic about the superficial and digital-passive generation of the Millenials, is at the same time aware of himself being a part and being influenced by his own times. 

Much in a way of online status updates his work might appear super positive at first glance, yet a lot of the topics depicted go deeper into darker territories of the human experience such as envy, anxiety and self-doubt.

With his distinctly juvenile visual language he holds a mirror to his generation with its constant need to maintain a positive facade and get outside approval.

Lekko’s style consisting of bright colours, cartoonish figures and fragmented words on textile or canvas evolves to a strongly associative pictorial realm blurring the lines between high and low culture without choosing a side. By depicting collective memory, transforming the recognition into a new context his paintings show tragedy and humour in balance, let the viewer connect to the imagery and stumble about it at the same time.