Elina Merenmies

Everything Sings, 2018–2019
tempera and oil on canvas
170 x 278 cm

In private collection

ELINA MERENMIES’s extensive oeuvre is a unique and mystical universe. A rich and layered array of meanings, emotions and recurring motifs come together in her works, executed in the artist’s precise, inimitable hand with tempera, oil and ink. In those works we encounter Merenmies’s rich inner world and its diverse, captivating and poignant characters. The images are indisputably regardful and sincere, with interior visions and experiences running parallel with everyday observations. Human understanding and sensitivity for the complexity of life have a strong presence. Merenmies’s works can be approached as gates to silence and the ultimate essence of being human. Merenmies has a great capacity for empathy: she knows and understands human fear, anxiety and loneliness, but her works never express desperation – only hope. 

Elina Merenmies (b. 1967, Espoo) lives and works in Helsinki. She has works in major public collections in Finland and in several Nordic art museums, including ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, The Gothenburg Museum of Art, The Finnish State Art Collection, Sara Hildén Art Museum, La Maison Rouge and Uppsala Art Museum, as well as in private collections in Europe and the United States. She has shown her work in numerous exhibitions in recent years, including Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki; HAM Helsinki Art Museum; Turku Art Museum; Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Stockholm; Norrköping Art Museum and Serlachius Museum, Mänttä. Since 2020, she has worked as the headmaster of the Free Art School in Helsinki.

Cherub, 2022
tempera and oil on canvas
31 x 40,5 cm

In Wihuri Foundation Collection

A Dance With My Beloved, 2021
ink on paper
24 x 20 cm

In private collection

Closer, 1995–2016
tempera and oil on canvas
46 x 38 cm

In private collection

All the Trees Are Mine, 2013
ink on handmade paper
77 x 52 cm

In Amos Anderson Art Museum Collection

Yön kukat, 2017
oil and tempera on canvas
51 x 39 cm

In Niemistö Foundation Collection

Valley of Vision, 2010-2013
tempera and oil on canvas
169 x 278 cm

In Uppsala kommun Collection

The Melancholy of an Old Lady, 2014
tempera and oil on canvas
171 x 105 cm

In Saastamoinen Foundation Collection

Valley of Vision, 2010-2013
tempera and oil on canvas
169 x 278 cm

In Niemistö Collection

Baroque Self-portrait, 2011
oil on canvas
38 × 30 cm

In Helsinki Art Museum collection

Pile of Bones, 2019
ink on handmade paper
53 x 79 cm

In private collection

Soaring Aloft Upon, 2016
tempera and oil on canvas
166 x 146 cm

In Niemistö Foundation Collection

Fire of Love, 1995-2019
tempera and oil on canvas
101 x 146 cm

In private collection

Selection of available works. For the full list, please contact galerie(at)anhava.com

The Bug, 2020
ink and wax pastel on handmade paper, framed
70 x 50,5 cm

Flame, 2021-22
tempera and oil on canvas
38 x 51 cm

Blue, 2021
oil on canvas
69 x 51,5 cm

In the Garden, 2021–22
oil on canvas
69 x 51 cm

Prophet’s Fire, 2013-2014
oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm

Bear Cloud, 2018
tempera and oil on canvas
42 x 33 cm

Leopard, 2016
ink on handmade paper, framed
15 x 12 cm

Summer Night, 2016
tempera and oil on canvas
146 x 97 cm

Sula, 2013
ink on handmade paper, framed
29,5 x 21 cm

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BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

ELINA MERENMIES (born 1967) is an artist carrying on, adeptly practising and reforming a long tradition. The techniques that she uses – mixed media combining tempera and oil painting on canvas and India ink on hand-made paper – achieved their present forms between 500 and 1,000 years ago. Her relationship to her work, her attitude, also derives from the past. She may work on the same piece from one year to another – at best from one decade to another. “Well, it took so long, because I couldn’t get it finished any earlier!” And then she laughs.

Laughter is important and it, too, is part of Merenmies’s attitude to herself, to people, and in a sense to art as well. As we know, tragedy and comedy are surprisingly close to each other and when the mood that she expresses in an artwork is at its most brutal, a touch of humour will often appear to break and lighten the effect. It’s all about the point of view.

Elina Merenmies’s extremely skilful and sensitive paintings create a mythical and mystical world of their own, but they also lead us to see our own world more sharply and to understand ourselves better. Merenmies has a great capacity for empathy: she knows and understands human fear, anxiety and loneliness, but her works never express desperation – only hope.

CV

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ELINA MERENMIES

Born 1967 in Espoo
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland

STUDIES
1999 Master of Fine Arts, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
1988–92 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, painting department, Helsinki
1991–92 Academy of Fine Arts (Academie Vytvarnich Umeni), monumental painting, Prague
1988–89 Institut de Saint-Luc, painting department, Brussels
1987 University of Helsinki, drawing department

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022
    • Heavenly Host, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2019
    • Bourgeons and Cracks, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2016
    • Spirit of Life, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • All the Trees Are Mine, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2012
    • Secret Joy, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki
  • 2010
    • The Regional Museum Kristianstad, Center for Contemporary Art, Kristianstad
    • Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
  • 2009
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2008
    • Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
  • 2005
    • Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala
  • 2004
    • Dahl Gallery of Contemporary Art, Luzern
    • The Finnish Institute, Paris
  • 2003
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2002
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2001
    • Kluuvin Galleria, Helsinki
  • 1999
    • Kaapelin Galleria, Helsinki
  • 1996
    • Espace Tristan Bernard, Paris 1994 Harjun Galleria, Helsinki
  • 1990
    • Academy of Fine Arts of Helsinki

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2023
    • Summer Show, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Land of Dusk – Works from the Wihuri Foundation Collection, Rovaniemi Art Museum
  • 2022
    • Subterranean, Amos Rex, Helsinki
  • 2021
    • Pyhä, Helsinki Cathedral Crypt
    • Heart open to art. Niemistö Collection in Turku, Ars Nova
  • 2020
    • Lallukka – Life in the Home of Artists, HAM Helsinki Art Museum
    • Explorations – Lars Göran Johnsson Collection, Turku Art Museum
  •  2019–2020
    • What Is Growing, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
  • 2018–2019
    • Upside Down, Kuopio Art Museum
  • 2018
    • Fusion, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
  • 2017–18
    • Augmented Reality, Norrköping Art Museum, Norrköping
  • 2017
    • Pleasure, HAM Helsinki Art Museum
    • Pleasure, Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä
    • Porvoo Triennial, Porvoo
    • Me: Self-Portraits Through Time, Kunsthalle Helsinki
    • Stripped – Collection Exhibition, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
  • 2016
    • Papiret, Galerie Mikael Andersen, CopenhagenFrom Heino With Love, HAM Helsinki Art Museum
  • 2015
    • Women’s Weapons: Lipstick and Tears?, Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere
    • Elements, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • Le Mur, La Maison Rouge, Paris
    • Touch/Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection Exhibition, EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
  • 2013–14
    • New Acquisitions, The Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg
  • 2013
    • Drawing in the Flesh, Vantaa Art Museum, Vantaa
    • The Collector’s Gaze, Pori Art Museum, Pori
  • 2011
    • Logens Konsthall, Kisa
    • Kind of Nice, Galerie Anhava 20 years, Galerie Anhava, HelsinkiNordic Darkness,
    • Kristinehamns konstmuseum, Kristinehamn
  • 2010
    • Tarinoiden lumo, Lönnströmin taidemuseo, Rauma
    • Punainen Saastamoisen säätiön taidekokoelmassa, EMMA Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
    • Nordisk Konsttriennal, Eskilstuna Konstmuseum, Eskilstuna
    • Järjestetty juttu, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 2009
    • Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, GBB 1999-, Copenhagen
    • Annorlunda Verkligheter, Elina Merenmies, Nina Roos, Mari Sunna, Anna Tuori, The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm
  • 2008
    • Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä
    • Splatsh, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
    • Finnish Art Now, Ars Fennica Nominees
    • 2007, Scandinavia House, New York
  • 2007
    • Images of Man Today, Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj
    • Drawing Class, Kunsthalle, Helsinki
    • Elina Merenmies, Tommy Støckel, Astrid Svangren, Tomoko Takahashi, Ulrika
    • Minami Wärmling, Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
    • Ars Fennica Nominees 2007, Finnish Embassy, Washington DC
    • Painting & Space & Society, Birgis S. Birgirsson, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Jens Fänge, Jukka Korkeila, Elina Merenmies and Fie Norsker, Göteborgs Kunstahalle, Gothenburg
    • Wound, Finnish Figurative Art, Gallen-Kallela Museum, Espoo; Rauma Art Museum, Rauma
    • Silent Violence, Oulu Art Museum, Oulu
  • 2006
    • Ars Fennica Nominees, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, HelsinkiArtist and The Spectator, Sara Hildén Museum of Art, Tampere
    • Book Blast, Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma
    • Squelette de l’esprit, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen
    • Contemporary Finnish Painting, Galerie Christian Roellin, St. Galen
    • The Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
  • 2005
    • Wille Mäkelä & Visitors, Painted into air, Mediatheque, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
    • Vexi Salmi’s Collection, Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Hämeenlinna
    • Nina Roos, Anu Tuominen, Marianna Uutinen, Pamela Brandt, Elina Merenmies, Kabusa Konsthall, Köpingebro
    • Collaborations, Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
    • MUU18v, Muu Ry, Helsinki Kunsthalle, Helsinki
  • 2004–2005
    • Arkens Samling, Arken, Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj
  • 2004
    • Aqua Forte, Elva kvinnliga konstnärer ur samlingen, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Rauma Balticum Biennale, Rauma
    • Peinture fraiche, la jeune creation finlandaise, Le Triage, Nanterre
  • 2003
    • ARTissima
    • 2003, Galerie Anhava, Turin
    • About Girls’ Lives, Amos Anderson Museum of Art, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles
    • Le Dernier Cri, Dix Ans, Galerie de l’Ecole des Beaux Arts, MarseilleSummer, Kerava Art Museum, Kerava
    • Night Train, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
  • 2002
    • NIFCA, STOP For A Moment, Painting As Presence, Arken, Museum for Moderne Kunst, IshøjNIFCA, STOP For A Moment, Painting As Presence Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku
    • NIFCA, STOP For A Moment, Painting As Narrative, Proje 4 L-Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul
  • 2001
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, La Siesta du Sud, MarseilleArt Goes To Kapakka Festival, Kosmos, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Horse hospital, LondonDRAW 5!, Puristamo, Cablefactory, HelsinkiFestival d’Art et de Litterature Nordique, Caen
  • 2000
    • Le Dernier Cri, 6ème Festival d’Art Singulier, Roquevaire
    • Mäntän tuliaiset, Studio Mezzo, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Stripcore, Ljubljana
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Haus Schwartzenberg, Neurotitian, Berlin
    • The 5th Festival of Fine Arts in Mänttä, Mänttä
    • Group exhibition with Matti Hagelberg and Reijo Kärkkäinen at the Regard Moderne, Paris
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Extrapool, Nigmegen
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Brussels
    • DRAW 4!, Gallery of the Cablefactory, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Galerie Triangle, Bordeaux
  • 1999
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Confort Moderne, Poitiers
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Heinsberg Cultural Festival, Heinsberg
    • Brutal Comics in Sick-screenland, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Kaapeli Gallery, Helsinki
    • Le Dernier Cri, Hopital Brut, Fumetto, Lucerne Comics Festival, Lucerne
  • 1998
    • Le Dernier Cri, Espace Herault and Regard Moderne, Paris
  • 1997
    • Le Dernier Cri, Les Index, Rouen
    • Le Dernier Cri, Le Grand Deballage, La Manufacture Art Center, Paris
    • Le Dernier Cri, Mauvais Oeil, La Friche- Cultural Center, Marseille
    • Le Dernier Cri, La Laiterie, Strasbourg
  • 1996
    • Le Dernier Cri, Espace Tristan Bernard, Paris
  • 1992
    • Made in Space, Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2018 Pleasure / Jukka Korkeila, Elina Merenies, Anna Retulainen, ed. Mika Hannula, Sanna Tuulikangas, Parvs Publishing, Helsinki
2015 On Painting – Essays and discussions, Mika Hannula, Parvs Publishing, Helsinki 2008 Hell Bound, New Gothic Art, Francesca Gavin, Laurence King Publishing Limitred, London
Elina Merenmies, New Works, Erik Steffensen : Elina Merenmies, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
Elina Merenmies, Selected Works 2004-2007, Daniel Milan, Smittekilde Press, Copenhagen
2007 Kulturo, tidsskrift for moderne kultur n. 25/07: Ondskab, Copenhagen
2006 Ars Fennica 2007, Elina Brotherus, Markus Kåhre, Elina Merenmies, Anna Tuori. Juha-Heikki Tihinen: Three Views of Elina Merenmies’ Art, Ars Fennica, Henna and Pentti Niemistö Art Foundation, Helsinki
De Brakke Hond 92, Erik Steffensen: You’ve got mail, De Brakke Hond, Mechelen
2005 Elina Merenmies, Alone, Juha-Heikki Tihinen, Vexi Salmi, Anders Jansson, Uppsala Konstuseum, Uppsala
Tidskriften Fabrik 2-3.05, Gothenburg
Muu 18, Riikka Ala-Harja, Minna Heikinaho, Henni Oksman, Toppela, Kari Yli-Annala, Art Print Oy, Helsinki
2004 Arken Bulletin vol.2, Tomas Ivan Träskman : Elina Merenmies, Arken Museum For Moderne Kunst, Ishøj
Elina Merenmies, Le Jardin de Jürgen, Les Religions Sauvages, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille Elina Merenmies, Juha Heikki Tihinen, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
Talking To Me, Rauma Biennale Balticum, Rauma Art Museum, Rauma
Vasta maalattu / Peinture fraiche, la jeune creation finlandaise, Mika Hannula, Merja Laukia, Cecile Marie, Ambassade de Finlande, Institut finlandais, Deja-CIFC, Paris
2003 night train, Surrealist Routes to Kiasmas Collections, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Like, Helsinki
Tyttöjen elämästä / Ur Flickors liv, Kaj Martin, Amos Anderson Museum of Art, Salpausselän Kirjapaino Oy
Elina Merenmies: HOPE, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille
2002 STOP for a moment painting as presence, Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy, Finland STOP for a moment painting as narrative, Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy, Finland
2001 Hopital Brut 5/6, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille Vagina Mushroom, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille cd: Musique de danse et de transe pour robots electromenagers, Paris 2000 Elina Merenmies: ILMANPAIN, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille
Hopital Brut 04, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille
1999 The Finnish Art Magazine NR 6, Kustannus Oy TAIDE, Helsinki
1997 Hopital Brut 03, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
The Museum of Amos Anderson, Helsinki, Finland Apoteksbolagets Konstföreningen, Sweden
Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Finnish Art Association
The Finnish State Art Collection Committee
The Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation’s collection, Finland The Helsinki City Art Museum HAM, Helsinki, Finland Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Finland
Leena and Kari Niemistö Collection, Finland
La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweden
The Saastamoinen Foundation, Finland
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening, Sweden
Uppsala Konstmuseum, Sweden
The Collection of Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation
Private collections

MEMBERSHIPS
Finnish painters’ association
Finnish Artists Association MUU
Le Dernier Cri

OTHER ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES
2004–2005 Virtual installations at the University of Technology, Otaniemi, Espoo, with Wille Mäkelä, researcher. The installations are painted with free hand into the air in a virtual environment with software being developed during the research project. To look at the installation one needs a real-time camera location in a special observation corner formed by stereoscopic walls.
1991 Tour of Czechoslovakia with the band Swinging C
1990–91 Participation in the making of Radio Block at the Radio Aligre in Paris, an experimental electro-acoustic radio-program based on voices, noises and music.

POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Part-time teacher in the Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Arts
In charge of master’s students at the Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Arts
Visiting part-time lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools in Copenhagen
Substitute lecturer in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts
Henna and Pertti Niemistö Ars Fennica Art Foundation
Headmaster and teacher in painting at the Free Art School, Helsinki