Afra Eisma (b.1993, NL)
aframarciel@gmail.com | instagram.com/aframarciel
Royal Academy Of Arts, Fine Arts, NL, 2012- 2017
Central Saint Martins, Fine Arts, UK, 2016
No Mans Art Gallery Amsterdam https://www.nomansart.com/afra-eisma
Upcoming
Now
2022-2023 until laughing, Trafó Gallery in collaboration with 1646, Budapest, HU
2021 – 2023 84 steps, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, NL
https://www.kunstinstituutmelly.nl/en/experience/29-84-stepshttps://www.e-flux.com/announcements/366529/2021-program/
Solo/duo
2022 Pink Prison, with Kubilay Mert Ural , Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn, NL
2022 Art Brussel, Sam Samiee & Afra Eisma, No Mans Art Gallery, BE
2021 Your silence will not protect you, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL (solo)
2020 Utsuro Bune, garden lab, kyoto, JP (duo)
2020 Utsuro Bune, yotsuya unconfirmed studio, Tokyo, JP (duo)
2020 Feline Whispers, 1646, Den Haag, NL (solo)
2019 Rooms of now #3, Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL (solo)
2019 ondertussen, Stroom, Den haag, NL (duo)
2018 Curl Up, No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL (duo)
2018 Amnesia aesthetics of pingpong poetics, Opzicht, Stroom, The Hague, NL (solo)
Group
2022 Multiplied voice, José de Guimarães International Arts Center, Guimarães, PT
2022 Schefferprijs, Dordrechts museum, Dordrecht, NL
2022 The Queens Substance, No Mans Art Gallery, Amsterdam
2022 Sneakers Unboxed, Design Museum, Den Bosch, NL
2022 R.S.V.P, Billytown, Den Haag, NL
2021 Prospects , van Nelle fabriek, Art rotterdam, NL
2021 No Mans Art Gallery, van Nelle fabriek, Art Rotterdam, NL
2020 summershow, ellen de Bruijne projects, Amsterdam, NL
2020 unfair amsterdam, westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, NL
2020 Residency, Diptych, amsterdam, NL
2020 Echo, The arch, Amsterdam, NL
2019 The sticky beaver show, Paralel vienna, Vienna, AT
2019 The Ballroom, Billytown, Den Haag, NL
2019 West of where the sun goes down, No mans art gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2019 Moonlight tryst, project space Mina, Amsterdam
2019 De reconstructie, ABC Klubhuis, Antwerpen, BE
2019 Haagse Herritage, Heden, Den Haag, NL
2019 No Mans Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2019 This is an art, SEA foundation, tilburg, NL
2019 A fucking art auction with berk, Antwerpen, BE
2019 The Hoarder, Moira, Utrecht, NL
2019 Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
2019 Meta Darlings, No Mans Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2019 CBK kamer II, Amsterdam, NL
2018 24 kleurplaten, Billytown, Den Haag, NL
2018 ways of seeing the future, AMNUA, the one minutes, Nanjing CH
2018 Best present in town, Patty Morgan, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Koninklijke Schilderprijs, Paleis op de Dam, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Zomer winkel, Patty Morgan, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Mrs. Robinson, Billytown, The Hague, NL
2018 Shake a leg, C&H gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Spiegel zaal willem twee, Den Bosch, NL
2018 Modern Forms, Kadmium, Delft, NL
2018 Unfair, zuiveringshal, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Facetime Den Haag, Stroom, The Hague, NL
2018 Unfair x Christie’s, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
2018 The nudist on the late shift, Barbara Seiler and Marcel van Eeden, Royal Gallery, The Hague, NL
2018 Old school east, Billytown the kitchen x SID YOUNG, Glasgow, UK
2017 Billytown, openstudios, The Hague, NL
2017 Beverly, sun lead gold, Arnhem, NL [solo]
2017 Frozen Fountain, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Graduation festival KABK, The Hague, NL
2017 Arti et Amicitiae, The one mintues, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Dysfunctional matters II, Corosia, Almere, NL
2017 Masterclass Barbara Seiler and Marcel van Eeden, Royal Gallery, The Hague, NL
2016 Crystal Maze, The Hague, NL
2016 140 FINGERS, The old police station, London, UK
2016 DISSEMINATE; spread widely, Tender Books, London, UK
2016 Do Disturb, Palais du Tokyo, Paris, FR
2016 Tynemout house, London, UK
2015 Mirrors of Romania, Bánffy Palace, Cluj, RO
2015 Atropa Belladona, Sis Josip Gallery, The Hague, NL
2015 MOTHERLODE!;!:!; , Quantem Space, The Hague, NL
2015 BLOODY MARY, Maagdenhuis, Amsterdam, NL
2015 Erzgebirgisches LaserAtomKraftwerk mit Pigmentfenster, Berlin, DE
2015 Mirrors of Romania, Quartair, The Hague, NL
2014 Salone del mobile, Milano, IT
2014 Wooden Web, The Hague, NL
Screenings
I danced to make a man again (Adrian Bridget & Afra Eisma) were part of the one minute series and screened at:
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture (NL)
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (NL)
Dortmunder U (DE)
East China Normal University, Shanghai (CN)
Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam (NL)
Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle (NL)
Museum Hilversum (NL)
Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam (NL)
De School, Amsterdam (NL)
WOW, Amsterdam (NL)
Nominations
Scheffer prijs 2022
Nominatie Koninklijke schilderprijs 2018
stroom award 2017
Stipends
Emerging talent grant Mondriaan Fonds
Stroom Pro invest
Publications/ online Articles
2020 Studio visit #9 ‘ik wil bevriend raken met fantasiefiguren’ in gesprek met Afra Eisma, Metropolis M , Eline van der Haak
2020 Aliens liefdesdrank en een kat zonder lichaam dit moet de wereld van afra eisma zijn, Mister Motley , Gijsje Heemskerk
2019 Jumping jack, Tubelight magazine
2018 Christmas special, Billytown, NL
2017 Het werk van Afra Eisma, Mister motley
2015 Porsche Academie, Vleeshal Middelburg, NL
2020 Feline Whispers, 1646, Den Haag, NL
Feline Whispers is inspired by Eisma’s imaginary cat, Larry, and the generosity involved in the speculative care for this pet. The exhibition will explore domestic space as an extension of the body, where nourishment and sharing are important counters to a world so full of deprivation and exclusion. Could ideas be tended to like they are our imaginary pets, feeding them, petting them, loving them?
https://1646.nl/projects/feline-whispers
Residency
2022 Creative Residency Arita, JP
2015 Residency, Mirrors of Romania, Cluj, RO
2015 Residency, Mirrors of Romania, The Hague, NL
Collections
De Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL
Textiel Museum, Tilburg, NL
No mans art gallery, Amsterdam, NL
SGABELLO collection, Amsterdam, NL
The finest art collection, Amsterdam, NL
Nollet Collection, Amsterdam, NL
Akzonobel, Amsterdam, NL
Private Collections
Other
Lecture with Mister Motley , Vlaamsch Cultuurhuis de brakke grond, Amsterdam.
Co curator of project space Billytown the Kitchen (2017-2019)
Co founder of Facetime Den Haag
Co founder of E.P.C. (Experimental Pizza Club)
+ I am kindly supported by Mondriaan Fonds and Stroom Den Haag <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 thank you !
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Colourful fibres, glazes, clay blocks, paint and pieces of enticing ephemera (fragments of life) huddle in groups in Afra Eisma’s studio. Ceramic shoe boxes are both storage and sculpture, tapestries on frames both room dividers and works-in-process. Right now there are collections of scrunchies and hairbands here. In bespoke ceramic vessels these objects present their symbolic form, evocative, erotic, vulva-like (this is a space which gives birth btw). Everything is liable to change… but there is a stainless steel spaceship in the corner, it is the kiln which bakes and fixes.
In other parts of the studio words and abstract images overlay each other, the medley of colours connect things-to-descriptors and descriptors-to-things. More works still, are minimally figurative; like the self-serving stick sculptures who seem to play protagonist: Friends? Neighbours? Animals? All are at the mercy of precarious human conditions. In parts Eisma’s work is knotted tight and bursts open with celebratory gestures, in others it sags lonely and dispirited. The artist is the conductor of this oscillation, making and processing fears and fantasies in the ‘studio as event’.
text by Anastasia Shin
Afra Eisma’s work can be described as both autobiographical and energetic. In the realities which she constructs, common stories are told through color and play. Using sculpture, textiles and ceramics Eisma shows an enormous lust for life: stories must be shared and the energy is being transferred to an audience. Within entering the overload of objects, our personal game starts. While sticking together the pieces of this visual puzzle, the story reveals itself. In a world that is intoxicated with alienation, exclusion and fear, opening up yourself is extremely important, Eisma states.
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website by Vera van de Seyp
https://veravandeseyp.com/