Sirja-Liisa Eelma (1973) is a conceptual painter, whose visual language is characterized by minimalist structures. She often works with repeating and slowly changing images in order to analyze themes like lack of intimacy, the physical experience of pause, silence, and delineating the visible and the invisible. Eelma’s practice relies on the mutual impact of the time factor and the spatial context in painting, her works evoke contemplation and meditative quietness.
Education:
1992–1996 Estonian Academy of Arts, painting MA
2018–… Doctoral School at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Artistic research The paradox of emptiness. Painting practice, through the (exhibition) space to the transformation of the surrounding state. Supervised by Alari Allik, PhD
Teaching experience:
2021–… Estonian Academy of Arts, fine arts faculty, department of painting, visiting
associated professor
1995–2016 Estonian Academy of Arts, visiting lecturer (department of photography,
department of painting, EAA Open Academy)
Selected solo exhibitions:
2023 The Skin of Reflections, Tartu Art House, Tartu, Estonia
2022 Black Mirror (together with Tiina Sarapu), Draakon Gallery, Tallinn
2021 Repeating Patterns (together with Mari Kurismaa, curator Tamara Luuk), Tallinn Art Hall
Gallery
2020 Postcard in Five Stills, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2017 Sandwiches Around the Clock, Tartu Art Hall, Tartu, Estonia
2017 Appetizer, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2016 Whatnot, Vaal Gallery, Tallinn
2014 Emptying Field of Meaning, Draakon Gallery, Tallinn
Selected group exhibitions:
2022 Growing Out? Growing Up? Contemporary Art Collecting in the Baltics, Zuzeum, Riga, Latvia
2021 Colour as an Idea. Thoughts from the Colour (idea & spatial design by Kristi Kongi),
ARS Project Space, Tallinn
2018 Aesthetics of Boredom (curator Peeter Talvistu), Tartu Art House, Tartu
2015 Metamorphoses of the Black Square. Interpretations of Malevich’s Work in Estonian Art
(curator Elnara Taidre), Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
Artist in residence programs:
2019 Hôtel Chevillon, Grez-sur-Loing, France / 1-month residency
2012 Väino Tanner Foundation, Mazzano Romano, Italy / 2-month residency
2006 RaumArs A-i-R, Rauma, Finland / 2-month residency
2006 KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna, Austria / 3-month residency
2005 NKD – Nordic Artists’ Centre in Dale, Dale i Sunfjord, Norway / 6-month residency
Acknowledgements:
2023 Kristjan Raud Art Award
2021 AkzoNobel Art Prize, nominee
2016 Konrad Mägi Award
https://cca.ee/en/artists-database/sirja-liisa-eelma