LEIPZIG, GERMANY.- Galerie Emmanuel Post announces the '20 Jahre History' exhibition by the Leipzig artist Leo Kaufmann. Is HISTORY, as a developmental process shaping the present, a period of only twenty years? The exhibition title '20 years of HISTORY' ironically alludes to the inextricable conflict between historical experience and its own structure. Leo Kaufmann's large-scale photographs and sculptures fuse elements from diverse historical backgrounds, blend archaic with modern forms into contemporaneous content, and juxtapose the traditional in technical perfection with dilettante improvisation. One of the sculptures oscillates between classical furniture and the IKEA-object. Whether he addresses historical growth or constructs correlations between objects and time, his work manifests the potential of openness in the artistic process of development, allows for plurality and realism in interpretation, and engages the observer in the complexity of aesthetic discourse. Our understanding of the presence of history in the present is as important as the perception of coincidence in our construction of reality.

Leo Kaufmann, b. Rostock, 1979, lives and works in Leipzig. 2001-08 Studied photography at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. 2002/2003 studied in the class of Boris Mikhailov. 2003 DAAD-scholarship in Santiago de Chile. Since 2003 class of Prof. Helfried Strauß. 2005/2006 Studied at the Universidad del PaÌs Vasco, Bellas Artes, Bilbao, Spain, with Prof. Angel Bados.

Exhibitions include: 2007 ‹Standards of Living›, Hinterconti, Hamburg; ‹F/Stop›, 1. International Photography Festival Leipzig; ‹Les maîtres inconnus au début›, Museum of Contemporary Art (studio house), Leipzig; 2006 ‹Odradek›, with Philipp Karl Moritz, Red Stripe Gallery, Leipzig; ‹topten›, (GalerÌa) Windsor Kulturgintza, Bilbao, Spain; ‹Bellas Artes 06›, Casa de Cultura Sanz Enea, Zarautz, Spain; ‹Getxoarte›, Getxo (Bilbao), Spain; ‹in between 05 / Murmansk›, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig; ‹tampoco casi todo›, Installation with Loretta Fahrenholz, L´Mono, Bilbao, Spain; 2005 Galerie Emmanuel Post, Leipzig; Kirov Palace Murmansk, Russia; Aspekte Galerie, Munich; 2004 Villa Kobe, Halle; Kunstbunker, Munich; Galerie Eigen + Art, Leipzig; 2003 ‹Señales Limítrofes›, Universidad ARCIS, Santiago de Chile.