Raul Meel

Raul Meel (born 2 March 1941) is an Estonian artist and concrete poet whose work spans printmaking, painting, sculpture, installation art, performance art and artists' books. A self-taught artist who studied electrical engineering, he emerged in the late 1960s as one of the best-known figures of the Estonian avant-garde. His work has been associated with conceptual art, minimalism and concrete poetry, and Europeana has described him as one of the first proponents of concrete poetry in the former Eastern bloc.

During the Soviet period Meel worked outside officially accepted artistic practice and was admitted to the Estonian Artists' Association only in 1987. He has exhibited internationally since the early 1970s, including at the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, the Venice Biennale satellite exhibition Printmaking Today in 1972, and the Council of Europe exhibition The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945 at the German Historical Museum and related venues. Works by Meel are held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, and the Art Museum of Estonia. His honours include the Order of the White Star, Fourth Class, and Estonia's national Lifetime Achievement Award for Culture.