MOST RECENT EXHIBITION
Biography
Born in 1982 in London, UK
Lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Esiri Erheriene-Essi is predominately a painter of mid to large-scale paintings concerned with figuration, history and society. She is captivated by history – in particular, images, objects, and documents which we can return to, in order to examine both individual and shared memories and histories. A large part of her practice entails collecting and creating an archive, which could potentially become incorporated into her work. Archives are important to the artist as they create links and orders that she can question and play with – she searches for the discrepancies, the silences, in order to, through painting, create interruptions and assaults on the canonical historical narrative. With hindsight, bias and curiosity, she takes these discordances and brings them up to the surface. Erheriene-Essi continuously re-edits the narratives with the hope of robbing history of some of its tyrannical power by creating new scenarios. Or rather, she is incessantly attempting to imagine more humane and liberating narratives than what has gone before. In the process she perhaps slightly changes our readings of history and thereby shows how we write the present.
In her work, Erheriene-Essi makes many references to popular culture, because popular culture is profoundly mythic and loaded. The canvases she makes are a theatre of popular desires and fantasies, where we all can discover and play with the process of identification. These ‘theatrical scenes’ show the imagined as well as the underrepresented, not only to the viewer but also to the artist herself. The paintings ‘play’ in their own way – they are telling a story, even though the scenes have no beginning, middle or end – they are cut off mid flow, out of context, are frozen, silent and still. Yet they have ‘sound’ as if they are performing and want to be heard. The audience is continuously invited to watch as well as to try and decipher the haphazard plot in which characters are encased in. The good thing about performing on canvas is that anything is possible – and that is what intrigues Erheriene-Essi the most.
CV
General
Born in 1982 in London, UK
Lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Education
- 2007-2009 Post-graduate Institute, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
- 2004-2006 MA (with Merit) Fine Art, University of East London, London, UK
- 2001-2004 BA (Hons) Media Studies, University of East London, London, UK
- 2000-2001 Camberwell College of Art (foundation), London, UK
Exhibitions
- 2020 (Upcoming) Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Armory Show, New York, NY, USA
- 2019 Prix de Rome 2019, The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Your Voice Matters, Museum Arnhem (De Kerk), Arnhem, NL - 2018 The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on(solo), Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
- 2017 ZOALS JIJ EN IK (LIKE YOU AND ME), Art Chapel, Amsterdam, NL
What’s New, Acquisitions, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL - 2016 What We Have Overlooked, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, NL
ROEMERS DRIELING (III),De Nieuwe Bibliotheek Almere, Almere, NL
ROEMERS DRIELING (II), Bibliotheek Den Haag, The Hague, NL
Roemers Drieling in Nieuwspoort, International Press Centre Nieuwspoort, The Hague, NL - 2015 Museumnacht 2015 – “Parallel Stories – The Whistleblower and the Dreamcatcher”, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
ROEMERS DRIELING, Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam, NL
The Usual Suspects (solo), Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
Art Amsterdam 2015, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Amsterdam, NL
‘Levenslang’, het criminele brein ontleed, museum Het Dolhuys, Haarlem, NL
ZIJ WAS EENS… TETEM Kunstruimte, Enschede, NL - 2014 Don’t Support the Greedy (solo), Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
‘Levenslang’, het criminele brein ontleed, museum Het Dolhuys, Haarlem, NL - 2013 Open Studio, Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale i Sunnfjord, Norway
Amsterdam Drawing 2013, Stichting Nieuwe Dakota, Amsterdam, NL
Jättekatastrof, Mitt Möllan, Malmö, Sweden - 2012 Open Studio, Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway
Big Show 7, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY, USA - 2011 PERFORMANCE (solo), Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, NL
What’s New 2, Acquisitions, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL - 2010 VOLTA6, Ron Mandos booth, Basel, Switzerland
What’s New, Acquisitions, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
Art Rotterdam, Ron Mandos booth, Rotterdam, NL - 2009 I Don’t Like Nostalgia Unless it’s Mine (solo), Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam, NL
Offspring, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
Koninklijke Prijs voor de Vrije Schilderkunst (Royal Awards for Painting) (1st Prize), Koninklijk Paleis, Amsterdam, NL - 2008 Test (solo), De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
- 2007 Art In Mind, The Brick Lane Gallery, London, England
Disposable Fetish, Bow Arts Trust, London, England - 2006 Memory & the Stream of Time, APT Gallery, London, England
Final Exhibition, UEL MA Fine Art, London, England
Student Show, UEL AVA, London, England - 2005Works On Paper, RK Burk Gallery, London, England
End of year show, UEL AVA, London, England
Residencies & Awards
- 2019Nominee for Prix de Rome 2019
- 2017Development Budget, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, The Netherlands
- 2016Werkbijdrage Bewezen Talent, Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands
- 2013Mondriaan Fonds, (Investment project Artist) The Netherlands
Nordic Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway (residency)
- 2012 Nordic Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway (residency)
Fonds BKVB, (Work Budget), The Netherlands - 2011 Fonds BKVB, (Work Budget), The Netherlands
- 2010Starter Stipendium, Fonds BKVB, NL
- 2009Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst, Amsterdam, NL
Collections
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL
Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL,
Drake Collection, Wassenaar, NL
Private collections in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Iceland, the United States, Belgium, South Africa and Switzerland
Publications
- 2019
Prix de Rome 2019 catalogue, JapSam Books/Mondriaan Fonds, NL
‘Expositie: Inclusie en diversiteit hebben de wind mee in Prix de Rome’, Edo Dijksterhuis, Het Parool, October 20, 2019
‘Geëngageerd werk voor Prix de Rome vraagt aandacht voor het onderbelichte’, Thomas van Huut, NRC, October 21, 2019
‘Kanshebbers Prix de Rome 2019: Alledaagse zwarte familiekiekjes in verf‘, Paola van de Velde, Telegraaf, October 21, 2019 - 2018
‘De nieuwe collectieopstelling van de AkzoNobel Art Foundation geeft een gepast antwoord op het doorgeslagen individualisme’, Rutger Pontzen, de Volkskrant, 11/05/2018, pg V15
‘Esiri Erheriene-Essi: Portraying the hidden elements of history’, Sasha Bogojev, Juxtapoz Magazine (feature), Jan 20 2018:
‘De optimistisch lach valt uit de toon’, Kees Keijer, Het Parool, Jan 26 20182017 http://www.inzuid.amsterdam/index.php/2017/01/06/art-zuid-neemt-zuid-steeds-meer-ruimte/ - 2016 What We Have Overlooked, 08/02/2016 | FEATURE – Vincent van Velsen
- 2014 ‘Don’t Support the Greedy’, authors: Marlene Dumas, Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Mirjam Westen and published by Museum Arnhem, ISBN 978-90-72861-52-8
‘Strange Fruit: Esiri Erheriene-Essi’, Koen Kleijn, De Groene Amsterdammer, nr. 25, 2014, p. 50
de Verdieping Trouw, NL, 23/09/2014, p. 4
‘Vooroordelen verpakt in felle kleuren’, Sandra Smets, NRC Handelsblad, 25 april 2014
‘Studio visit: Esiri Erheriene-Essi’, Floor van Luijk, Metropolis M (online only): http://metropolism.com/features/studio-visit/english, 2/09/2014
- 2013 De Volkskrant newspaper NL, 19/09/2013, Kunst: Drawing Amsterdam, p 22
- 2012 “Uitgelicht: Schilderkunst in Nederland: Generatie 2.0”, Braat, Manon, Kunstbeeld, nr. 5, 2012, p. 42
- 2011“Amsterdam”, Elephant: The Arts & Visual Culture Magazine, issue 8, Autumn 2011, p 184
De Volkskrant newspaper, NL 18/02/2011 http://www.volkskrant.nl/beeldende-kunst/over-esiri-erherienne-essi-ik-houd-van-haar-commentaar~a1869945/ - 2010“New Talent”, Blend, van der Does, Bieneke, issue 47, jan/feb 2010, p 102, NL
- 2009 (Catalogus), Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst, 2009, p 14-17, NL
Offspring 2009, Amsterdam, De Ateliers, p 33 – 40, NL
‘Signalement: Esiri Erheriene-Essi’, Spijkerman, Sandra, Kunstbeeld, nr. 12/1, pp 34-37
Other
- 2015 Artist lecture/teaching, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK (February 2015)
- 2014 ‘Marlene Dumas: The Power of Photography & The Power of Painting’, artist lecture, 23 Nov 2014, Teijin Auditorium, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL [http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/calendar/exhibition-close-up/marlene-dumas-the-power-of-photography-the-power-of-painting]
- 2016 Artist talk, ‘Event: Farewell to the hermetic monoculture’, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. https://framerframed.nl/en/projecten/lecture-farewell-to-the-hermetic-monoculture/
- 2017 Artist lecture, Read My World Festival 2017 “Black USA, Literature of the Resistance”, Tolhuistuin Amsterdam/Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
