Leonard van Munster

Who is Leonard van Munster?

Leonard van Munster, is a Dutch contemporary artist making Site-specific and Subject-specific work. He studied from 1992 to 1996 at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. This included an exchange programme to Parsons School of Art and Cooper Union in New York.

Van Munster's installations are to be found mostly in public spaces, where the surroundings play an important role in the work and how it is experienced. Sometimes, he chooses a location that suits an already made sketch, and sometimes he makes a work especially for a specific location. Although his works at first glance have a cheery or boyish look about them, there is a more sensitive idea at their basis. Recurrent underlying themes are desire, homesickness and sentiment: a frozen moment of happiness or a childhood memory.

The sometimes even comical appearance of his work has the effect of a layer of pink sugar frosting. This can be witnessed in his Fata Morgana [Under heaven 02], built under the A10 highway in Amsterdam. An oasis under the highway, where palm trees, banana trees and flowers grow and a waterfall splashes down off some rocks. The sun appears always to be shining.