Inga Meldere

Inga Meldere (b. 1979) lives and works in Helsinki. She studied at the University of Latvia and at the Art Academy of Latvia. Between 2013 and 2014, Meldere was a researcher at Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. She graduated the Painting MA programme at the University of the Arts in Helsinki in 2021.

Inga Meldere describes her works as being about art practices and painting methods. Her paintings, installations and prints are the result of detailed work with source material, weaving together personal and collective memories and experiences, art historical quotes and everyday imagery. Interested in what she calls “the mood of a painting”, Meldere narrates these fragments into her works with care and precision, following their lead until they reach a focus.

Meldere’s recent exhibitions include "Bluetooth (Sister N.)", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2022); "Hidden matter", with Mikko Hintz, Helsinki Contemporary (2019); “Twofold", with Atis Ievinš, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (2017); "Vertex", SIC, Helsinki (2017); “Colouring Books”, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga (2016); "House By the Waterfall or Colouring Books for Adults", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2016); “Writers Room”, Museum of Janis Rozentals and Rudolfs Blaumanis, Riga (2015); “Berzkalni”, gallery G12, Helsinki, (2015); “Magic Mountain”, gallery XO, Riga (2014); “Untitled”, with Oscar Santillan, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2013).

She has participated in various group exhibitions including “The Same Sea”, Helsinki Biennial (2021); “There and Back Again - Contemporary art from Baltic Sea region”, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2018 -2019); "Touch Myself", curated by Jana Kukaine, Exhibition hall Arsenals, National Museum of Latvia, Riga (2017); "You Talkin' to Me?, curated by Barbara Seiler, Barbara Seiler Gallery, Zürich (2016–2017); “How Institution Thinks”, developed by De Apple Curatorial Research Fellow Inga Lace, Amsterdam (2016); “Le Fragole Del Baltico”, Careof, Milan (2015); “Survival K(n)it 7”, LCCA, Riga (2015); “Important contemporary Latvian artists”, National Arts Club, New York, Driehaus Museum, Chicago, and Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (2012); “Tides of Change. Balticum”, HangART-7, Salzburg (2011); “FAX”, South London Gallery, London (2011).