Merike Estna
Merike Estna (b. 1980) lives and works in Tallinn and Mexico City. A participant in the performance art scene associated with
Academia Non Grata, an alternative art school in Estonia in the early 2000s, Estna later acquired formal art education at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she graduated with a BA in painting and a MA in interdisciplinary arts. Estna relocated to London in 2007, where she completed an MFA programme in Art Practice 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. In 2026, Merike Estna will represent Estonia at the 61st Venice Biennale, further solidifying her position in contemporary painting discourse.
Estna’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions including "They Began to Talk", Kumu Art Museum "Peradam", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2024), "Analog Mountain", Margot Samel Gallery, New York (2023), "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 Fundación Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico (2022), "Bitácoras", at Fundación 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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Quinta
acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2023



Ese Dia
acrylic, oil, canvas 150×200cm 2023




Prehistoric origin
acrylic, oil, canvas 150×200cm 2023




The Mountain
acrylic, oil, canvas 45×61cm 2023




So Soft/+ Pure
mixed media, installation view at SmallProjects Tromso, Norway 2014


Mouth of the Cave
acrylic, oil, canvas 150×100cm 2023




Funeral during a thunderstorm
painting on glass 2022


From the eries "Daily Painting" (Nr 76)
acrylic, pastel, paper, framed 52×36cm 2018



From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 32)
acrylic, oil, paper 52×36cm 2018


From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 1)
acrylic, oil, paper 52×36cm 2018


From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 82)
watercolor, oil, wax, paper 52×36cm 2018


From the series Daily Painting (Nr 93)
watercolor, pastel, wax, paper, framed 52×36cm 2018


From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 132)
acrylic, paper 52×36cm 2018


From the series "Daily Paintings" (Nr 12)
acrylic, oil, paper 52×36cm 2018


"Nude 5" from series "Nudes in the Rain"
watercolor, paper 30×30cm 2010


"Nude 13" from series "Nudes in the Rain"
watercolor, paper 30×30cm 2010


Annukks 2
watercolor, paper 29×42cm 2010


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







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






Will Not
acrylic, paper, pastel, wooden frame 100×80cm 2022





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






Blue Ribbon
hand tufted woolen carpet 190×75cm 2022




Soil will not contain our Love
hand tufted woolen carpet 350×300cm 2022





Memories
ceramics 12×18×18cm 2019



Ghost
ceramics 18×24×15cm



Memories
ceramics 12×18×18cm 2019



Ghost
ceramics 18×24×15cm 2018



Infinity of Housework
acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019


Material Substitution for Lost Faith
acrylic, canvas 61×45cm 2019



Sad but sad
acrylic on canvas 200×150cm 2017





Best friends hair will always take care
wool, silk mohair, best friends hair, hand woven and embroidered 195×140cm 2017


Black gloves
hand painted on hand tufted wool 200×150cm 2017




So Soft/ + Pure
textile paint, robe 120×50cm 2014


My Lipstick Was the Color of the Day
oil, canvas 37×28cm 2014


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


installation view of Blow My Tie Dye at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn
acrylic, canvas, spray paint, fans 1200×400cm 2014


The Emptiness of the Empty Eyes
oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019


Installation view of Camouflage Painting Show at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn
household paint on given space and paintings 2014


History of Broken Glass
stained glass, metal chain 61×46cm 2019









Ocean of Endangered Times
acrylic, canvas 600×400cm 2019






Trapped
acrylic, canvas 200×150cm 2018





Double Trap
acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019


Mother of Pearls
acrylic, oil, canvas 61×45cm 2019



A small dark colorful painting
oil on canvas 30×40cm 2012


banana/angel 4
acrylic on paper 61×45cm 2017



El Rodeo
acrylic, oil, canvas 200×150cm 2023



Amor
acrylic, oil, canvas 200×150cm 2023



Your turquoise eyes are hovering in my mind
acrylic, canvas 130×90cm 2016


Amores mios 1
acrylic on plywood and traditional Mexican carpentry, text used is a poem by HAIEM 140×75cm 2023






Amores mios 2
acrylic on plywood and traditional Mexican carpentry, text used is a poem by HAIEM 140×75cm 2023






Letters of Love 1
acrylic, oil, canvas 150×100cm 2023




Seeya
acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016


Letters of Love 4
acrylic, oil, canvas 150×100cm 2023



I can't possibly focus
acrylic, canvas 130×90cm 2016


Pearls
acrylic and oil on canvas 61×45cm 2023



And the way you hold this as a distant precious brushstroke really breaks my heart
acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016


What do you mean? when you ask me to explain it's too early now
acrylic, canvas 60×45cm 2016


Did You? Notnot from series Slip Off
oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015


Slip Off from series Slip Off
oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015


Fried Chicken from series Slip Off
oil, acrylic, canvas 65×45cm 2015


Untitled from series Slip Off
oil, acrylic, canvas 60×40cm 2015


I am an Empty Vessel
acrylic, oil, canvas 200×150cm 2021


The ghost, the past and the fence
acrylic, oil, canvas 220×160cm 2021


Floaters
oil, glass 53×39cm 2021


Dinner For One
oil, glass, tin frame 50×40cm 2021

Gallery Exhibitions
Other Exhibitions

Blue Lagoon, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn
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Soft Scrub Hard Body Liquid Presence, together with Maria Metsalu, Art in General, New York
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Red Herring, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki

An Egg, a Larva, a Nymph, 13th Baltic Art Triennial, Tallinn
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Ghost of the future, filled with memories of past at Moderna Museet, Malmö
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The House of the Tragic Poet at Boss & Baum, London
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Soil Will Not Contain Our Love, Kai Art Centre, Tallinn
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