Noblessner, Kai Art Center building – Peetri 12, 10415, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 6405770, info@temnikova.ee. Wed–Fri 13–18 Sat–Sun 14–18. 

Merike Estna

Merike Estna (b. 1980) lives and works in Tallinn. A participant in the performance art scene associated with Academia Non Grata alternative art school in the early 2000s, Estna later acquired formal art education at the Estonian Academy of Art where she attended Painting BA and Interdisciplinary Arts MA classes. Estna relocated to London in 2007, where she completed an MFA Art Practice degree at Goldsmiths College in 2009.


Estna’s practice is primarily focused on the processes of painting, approaching the artwork as an integral part of life rather than it being about life. Borrowing patterns and colour combinations from applied arts and crafts, vocabularies which traditionally have not been accepted in the visual language of painting, her work challenges the masculine territory of painting and questions the strict separation between the two discourses. Initially applying patterns and treatments to canvases, Estna gradually progressed to cover clothes, objects and entire spaces as her research into colour and acts of painting expanded.


Estna’s recent exhibitions include: “Soil will not contain our Love“, Kai Art Center, Tallinn (2022), “Talk to me softly, when the world is fading away“, Karen Huber gallery, Mexico City (2022), "Memory Shop”, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud at the Fundacion Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico ( 2022), “Bitácoras“,at the Fundacion Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico ( 2022),“The House of the Tragic Poet“, Bosse & Baum, London (2021), “Borderlessness“, with Jaime Lobato, Hasanlu Armastajad, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn ( 2021), “Nightfall / Videvik“, Publics, Helsinki ( 2021), “Ghost of the Future, Filled With Memories of Past”, Moderna Museet, Malmö (2019); “Mother of Pearls”, Karen Huber, Mexico City (2019); “Dawn of the Swarm”, Bosse & Baum, London (2018); “Disposable Gloves Guide”, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga (2018); "Soft Scrub, Hard Body, Liquid Presence", with Maria Metsalu, curated by Maria Arusoo, Art in General, New York (2017–2018); "Fragments from the shattered toe", curated by Thomas Cuckle, Kunstraum, London (2017); "Red Herring", Chart Social, Copenhagen (2017); "Doublethink: Double vision", curated by Alistair Hicks, Pera Museum, Istanbul (2017); "The Seed Can Be Initialized Randomly II”, with Ana Cardoso, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2017); "Memorial", Estonian Embassy, London (2016); “The Seed Can Be Initialized Randomly”, with Ana Cardoso, Múrias Centeno, Porto (2016); “Domesticmindcraft”, Karen Huber gallery, Mexico City (2016); “Genialmythcraft”, Palermo Galerie, Stuttgart (2015); “Corporate Jungle”, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2015); “Blue Lagoon”, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn (2014).

Selected works

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Wild grass

oil and acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2023

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Moonlight

oil and acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2023

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El Rodeo

oil and acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2023

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Amor

oil and acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2023

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Amores mios 1

acrylic on plywood and traditional Mexican carpentry, text used is a poem by HAIEM 140×75cm 2023

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Amores mios 2

acrylic on plywood and traditional Mexican carpentry, text used is a poem by HAIEM 140×75cm 2023

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Letters of Love 1

acrylic and oil on canvas 150×100cm 2023

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Letters of Love 4

acrylic and oil on canvas 150×100cm 2023

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Pearls

acrylic and oil on canvas 61×45cm 2023

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Ghost

ceramics 18×24×15cm

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Ghost

ceramics 18×24×15cm 2018

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Memories

ceramics 12×18×18cm 2019

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Memories

ceramics 12×18×18cm 2019

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Soil will not contain our Love

hand tufted woolen carpet 350×300cm 2022

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Blue Ribbon

hand tufted woolen carpet 190×75cm 2022

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Soil

acrylic, paper, wooden frame 220×150cm 2022

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Our Love

acrylic, paper, pastel, wooden frame 220×150cm 2022

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Contain

acrylic, paper, wooden frame 100×80cm 2022

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Will Not

acrylic, paper, pastel, wooden frame 100×80cm 2022

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Floaters

oil, glass 53×39cm 2021

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Dinner For One

oil, glass, tin frame 50×40cm 2021

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The ghost, the past and the fence

acrylic, oil, canvas 220×160cm 2021

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I am an Empty Vessel

acrylic, oil, canvas 200×150cm 2021

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Ocean of Endangered Times

acrylic, canvas 600×400cm 2019

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Material Substitution for Lost Faith

acrylic, canvas 61×45cm 2019

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Mother of Pearls

acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019

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History of Broken Glass

stained glass, metal chain 61×46cm 2019

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Trapped

acrylic, canvas 200×150cm 2018

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Double Trap

acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019

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From the series "Daily Paintings"

acrylic, oil, pastel, paper 52×36cm 2018

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From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 125)

acrylic, oil, paper 52×36cm 2018

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From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 137)

acrylic, oil, paper 52×36cm 2018

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The Emptiness of the Empty Eyes

oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019

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Infinity of Housework

acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019

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banana/angel 4

acrylic on paper 61×45cm 2017

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Black gloves

hand painted on hand tufted wool 200×150cm 2017

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Best friends hair will always take care

wool, silk mohair, best friends hair, hand woven and embroidered 195×140cm 2017

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Sad but sad

acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2017

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What do you mean? when you ask me to explain it's too early now

acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016

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And the way you hold this as a distant precious brushstroke really breaks my heart

acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016

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I can't possibly focus

acrylic, canvas 130×90cm 2016

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Seeya

acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016

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Your turquoise eyes are hovering in my mind

acrylic, canvas 130×90cm 2016

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Did You? Notnot from series Slip Off

oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015

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Slip Off from series Slip Off

oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015

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Fried Chicken from series Slip Off

oil, acrylic, canvas 65×45cm 2015

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Untitled from series Slip Off

oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015

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My Lipstick Was the Color of the Day

oil, canvas 37×28cm 2014

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Rugface

acrylic, canvas 2014

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So Soft/ + Pure

textile paint, robe 120×50cm 2014

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So Soft/+ Pure

mixed media, installation view at SmallProjects Tromso, Norway 2014

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JacketsPaintings / PaintingsJackets

acrylic, silk paint, silk, cotton, installation view at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 2014

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Blue Lagoon

oil, acrylic, canvas, various objects, installation view at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 2014

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Blow My Tie Dye

acrylic, canvas, spray paint, fans, installation view at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 1200×400cm 2014

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Camouflage Painting Show

household paint on given space and paintings, installation view at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 2014

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Traveling With a Painting

video installation on 5 screens, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 2014

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Traveling With a Painting

still from a video installation on 5 screens at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn 2014

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I'm Around For a While, For a Week

acrylic, floor, installation view at Enclave project space, London 2014

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Pattern Book 5

acrylic, paper 2014

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Random Tapestry

acrylic, cotton 102×153cm 2014

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Tapestry Floating Away

acrylic, cotton 255×145cm 2014

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A Very Light Painting with Black

oil, canvas 122×92cm 2012

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A small dark colorful painting

oil on canvas 30×40cm 2012

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27 Paintings, 4 Drawings and 3 Videos

installation view at KUMU Art Museum 2012

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A Big Painting and a Small Painting

installation view at Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn 2012

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A Big Painting and a Small Painting, video still

video 2012

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A Blue Painting

oil, canvas 152×120cm 2012

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Bright Painting

oil, canvas, led projector 2012

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3 videos, video still

video 2012

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Gallery Exhibitions

Other Exhibitions

Fairs

Press