CV
ESIRI ERHERIENE-ESSI:
1982 Born in London, England
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 (foundation) Camberwell College of Art, London, UK
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2025 Reflections, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2023 Homecoming, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Mother Tongue, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels, Belgium
2022 Rememory, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2021 The Future Isn't What It Used to Be, MARUANI MERCIER, Knokke, Belgium
I am here because you were there, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
2018 The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
2015 The Usual Suspects, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
2014 Don’t Support the Greedy, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
2011 PERFORMANCE, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
2009 I Don’t Like Nostalgia Unless it’s Mine, Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam, NL
2008 Test, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION):
2025 When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
Reality Check - 10 jaar MORE, 10 jaar realisme, Museum MORE, Gorssel, NL
Dialogues: Black Voices from the Museum Collection, AMOCA, Cardiff, Wales, UK
PANAFTICON, Loods6, Amsterdam, NL
2024 When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Op Scherp (In Focus), Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Come One, Come All, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Revival: Digging into Yesterday, Painting Tomorrow, 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
2023 Kindred Worlds: The Priscila and Alvin Hudgins Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, USA
Femme Noire, Central District, Seattle, WA, USA
Africa Supernova: Contemporary African painting collection by Carla and Pieter Schulting, Kunsthal KAdE,
Amersfoort, NL
Image Impressions, The Vaughan-Richards House, Lagos, Nigeria
BEACH, Nino Mier Gallery, NYC, NY, USA
Tales for a Stranger, Curated by Azu Nwagbogu, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels, Belgium
2022 When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz MOCAA,
Cape Town, South Africa
Greatest Source of My Longing, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
What It Could Be, Stony Islands Arts Bank, Chicago, IL, USA
Realism from 1900 to the present, Museum MORE, Gorssel, NL
Prophecy, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK
From primal beast to smoking croissant, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, NL
Contemporary Perspectives, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrechts, NL
2021 Tomorrow is a Different Day - 1980 – Now, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Trailblazers: 150th Anniversary of the Royal Award for Modern Painting, Royal Palace Amsterdam, NL
The Roaring Twenties, Museum Kraneburgh, Bergen, NL
All Eyes, AkzoNobel Art Collection, Amsterdam, NL
NADA
2020 The Pearl, Ramp Gallery, London, UK
Realism Nu, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, NL
ME: An Exhibition of Contemporary Self-Portraiture, High Line Nine, Chelsea, New York City, USA
Empathy | No human is an island, Museum Ijsselstein, Ijsselstein, NL
2019 Prix de Rome 2019, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Your Voice Matters, Museum Arnhem (De Kerk), Arnhem, NL
2018 De Kersentuin (4), KunstRAI, Amsterdam, NL
Common Ground, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
LekArt Festival, Shared Ground, Culemborg, 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
'Levenslang', het criminele brein ontleed, museum Het Dolhuys, Haarlem, NL
ZIJ WAS EENS... TETEM Kunstruimte, Enschede, NL
2014 'Levenslang', het criminele brein ontleed, museum Het Dolhuys, Haarlem, NL
2013 Open Studio, Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale i Sunnfjord, Norway
Jättekatastrof, Mitt Möllan, Malmö, Sweden
2012 Open Studio, Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway
Big Show 7, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY, USA
2011 De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, NL
What’s New 2, Acquisitions, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
2010 What’s New, Acquisitions, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Rotterdam, NL
2009 Offspring, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
Koninklijke Prijs voor de Vrije Schilderkunst (Royal Awards for Painting) (1st Prize), Koninklijk Paleis, 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
2005 Works on Paper, RK Burk Gallery, London, England
End of year show, UEL AVA, London, England
ART FAIRS
2022 NADA Miami 2022, Nino Mier Gallery booth, Miami, Florida, USA
2021 Art Antwerp 2021, Nino Mier Gallery booth, Miami, Florida, USA
NADA Miami 2021, Nino Mier Gallery booth, Antwerp, Brussels
2020 The Armory Show 2020, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, New York, NY, USA
2015 Art Amsterdam 2015, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Amsterdam, NL
2013 Amsterdam Drawing 2013, Stichting Nieuwe Dakota, Amsterdam, NL
2010 VOLTA6, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Basel, Switzerland
Art Rotterdam 2010, Galerie Ron Mandos booth, Rotterdam, NL
RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
2019 (Nominee & Children's Jury winner) Prix de Rome 2019, The Netherlands
2019 Mondriaan Fonds, (Investment project Artist) The Netherlands
2017 Development Budget, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, The Netherlands
2016 Werkbijdrage Bewezen Talent, Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands
2013 Mondriaan Fonds, (Investment project Artist) The Netherlands
2013 Nordic Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway (residency)
2012 Nordic Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Dale, Norway (residency)
2012 Fonds BKVB, (Work Budget), The Netherlands
2011 Fonds BKVB, (Work Budget), The Netherlands
2011 (Nominee) De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, The Netherlands
2010 Starter Stipendium, Fonds BKVB, NL
2009 Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst (The Royal Award for Modern Painting), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
COLLECTIONS
- Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida, USA
- Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
- Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations of The Netherlands, Den Haag, NL
- Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL
- Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, NL
- The Scott Newman Art Collection, USA
- 21C Museum Hotels, USA
- The Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, USA
- Mana Contemporary, Chicago, USA
- AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
- Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL
- Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL,
- Robert & Renee Drake Collection, Wassenaar, NL
- Private collections in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Iceland, the United States, Belgium, South Africa and Switzerland
TEACHING:
2021 Guest tutor, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL
2019 (ongoing) Artist tutor, Painting and Printmaking department, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
2019 Guest tutor, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
2019 Guest teaching, Painting and Printmaking department, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
2018 Individual mentoring/tutoring 2nd year Fine Art Students from Minerva and Gerrit Rietveld Academies, NL
2015 Guest teaching, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK
OTHER
Jury member for the Royal Award for Modern Painting: 2023 - 2025 (The Netherlands)
PRESENTATIONS & ARTIST TALKS:
2021 Azu Nwagbogu and Esiri Erheriene-Essi in conversation, 'I am here because you were there', Galerie Ron Mandos
RM Sunday Sessions: In Conversation With… Esiri Erheriene-Essi and Zanele Muholi (21 March 2021)
RM Sunday Sessions: In Conversation With… Esiri Erheriene-Essi and Isaac Julien (29 March 2021)
Harlem Arts Alliance, 'Voices of The Coast: Virtual Discussion & Exhibition Preview' (22 May 2021)
2020 'Create it - with Esiri Erheriene-Essi', artist workshop, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL (14 February 2020)
2019 Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Prix de Rome 2019, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam - interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72IDlx3Uxg
Artist talk, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Artist talk, The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, The Netherland
2017 Artist lecture, Read My World Festival 2017 "Black USA, Literature of the Resistance", Tolhuistuin Amsterdam/Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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/
2015 Artist lecture, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK (February 2015)
2014 Artist lecture, ‘Marlene Dumas: The Power of Photography & The Power of Painting’, 23 Nov 2014, Teijin Auditorium, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.