ELLIS HOLMAN
Ellis Holman (1997, The Netherlands), driven by a deep interest in the complexity and layered nature of human emotions, questions our essence and uses the landscapes around her as a field of research, to turn inward, discover, and learn to understand. The natural phenomena that fascinate her form the foundation of her artistic practice. She translates them into her own visual language, using them as metaphors for emotions, experiences, and the unique ways in which each person responds to the world around them.
In a time when polarisation, digitalisation, individualisation, and social pressures constantly pull at us, the desire to disappear for a moment grows, to pause in that elusive in-between space. Through her works, Holman creates room for the longing to linger at that moment when everything comes to a standstill. She explores the urge for control, fantasy, desire, silence, the sublime, and surrender.
Through film and photography, she analyzes the environment. In an iterative process, she translates what fascinates her into her own visual language, shaped by an ongoing exploration of material, technique, form, and movement. While her works are often executed with technical precision and complexity, her aim is for the final outcome to radiate calmness. She creates works that balance imagination and estrangement, inviting viewers to look inward with an open and unprejudiced sense of curiosity.
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Solo shows:
2025
Sight of Solitude - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout)
2024
Seeking the Landscapes - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout)
Duo shows:
2025
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Weisbard - Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam)
Group shows:
2025
LICHT - Galerie Pouloeuff (NL, Naarden)
PAN Amsterdam - MPV Gallery (NL, Amsterdam)
The Gallery Collection - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout)
BREACH - Hubert (NL, Nijmegen)
CKC Gallery - (SP, Madrid)
When The Image Slips - Galerie Cpunt (NL, Hoofddorp)
The New Current - De Kaai, Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam)
2024
Onderwijsfestival ArtTechTour - Energiehuis (NL, Dordrecht)
NOUVEL EDEN - Chroniques Biennale (FR, Aix-en-Provence) Supported by Mondriaan Fonds – International Art
Presentation Grant and the Dutch Embassy
Intertwined Realities - Forci Art Foundation, Tenuta Di Forci (IT, Lucca)
The New Current - Brutus, Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam)
Best of Graduates Legacy - Galerie Ron Mandos, Art Rotterdam (NL, Rotterdam)
2023
THERESI_ART 07 - Art[s] Gallery Simone Jansen (NL, Noordwijk)
Axel Pairon gallery (BE, Knokke)
Object Rotterdam - On the cutting edge of design art, fashion, architecture and crafts. (NL, Rotterdam)
2022
Makers Momenten - Kunstgarage Franx (NL, Zoetermeer)
The Best of Graduates 2022 - Galerie Ron Mandos (NL, Amsterdam)
Graduation Show - Willem de Kooning Academy (NL, Rotterdam)
2021
Virtual exhibition CIRCULAR ATMOSPHERE - Studio Enter X Isola Design District (Digital)
2017
Rabobank de Langstraat - De expositie van jonge kunstenaars (NL, Waalwijk)
Collections:
Lakeside Collection, NL
Kunstcollectie Hoge school Rotterdam, NL
Forci Art Foundation - Art Collection, IT
Number 5 Foundation, NL
Artist-in-residence:
2024
Artist Residency at Forci Art Foundation (IT, Lucca)
Supported by:
Fondskwadraat
Het Cultuurfonds
The John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation
Mondriaan Fonds
Award/Nominations:
2024
The John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation prize - Nominated
2022
Lakeside Collection Award, Lakeside Collection - Nominated
Best of Graduates 2022, Galerie Ron Mandos - Nominated
Global Design Graduate Show, Arts Thread - Shortlisted
2017
Rabobank de Langstraat - De Expositie van jonge kunstenaars - Won
Talks:
2025
Guest teacher ‘KlooiKollege’ Museum Vlaardingen - KITE Education (NL, Vlaardingen)
Guest speaker - Art Radio, Rotterdam Art Week Podcast.
2024
Artist Talk ‘The story behind: Composing Oceans’ - Chroniques Biennales (FR, Marseille)
Guest teacher ‘KlooiKollege’ - KITE Education (NL, Rotterdam)
Publications:
2022
Design Heritage Tourism. Between Sense of Time and Sense of Place. Chapter: Lorens, A Hybrid/Ephemeral/in Motion; Lettera Ventidue
De Groene Amsterdammer - editie #35; De jonge garde, Woestijn
2021
Dutch Design Daily - Growing Cabinets