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.
cv
Contact
Education: Willem de Kooning Academie (NL Rotterdam) (2018 - 2022)
Solo shows:
Sight of Solitude - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout) (2025)
Seeking the Landscapes - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout) (2024)
Duo shows:
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Weisbard - Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam) (2025)
Group shows:
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Weisbard - Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam) (2026)
LICHT - Galerie Pouloeuff (NL, Naarden) (2025)
PAN Amsterdam - MPV Gallery (NL, Amsterdam) (2025)
The Gallery Collection - MOYA (Museum of Young Art) (NL, Oosterhout) (2025)
BREACH - Hubert (NL, Nijmegen) (2025)
CKC Gallery - (SP, Madrid) (2025)
When The Image Slips - Galerie Cpunt (NL, Hoofddorp) (2025)
The New Current - De Kaai, Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam) (2025)
Onderwijsfestival ArtTechTour - Energiehuis (NL, Dordrecht) (2024)
NOUVEL EDEN - Chroniques Biennale (FR, Aix-en-Provence) Supported by Mondriaan Fonds – International Art
Presentation Grant and the Dutch Embassy (2024)
Intertwined Realities - Forci Art Foundation, Tenuta Di Forci (IT, Lucca) (2024)
The New Current - Brutus, Rotterdam Art Week (NL, Rotterdam) (2024)
Best of Graduates Legacy - Galerie Ron Mandos, Art Rotterdam (NL, Rotterdam) (2024)
THERESI_ART 07 - Art[s] Gallery Simone Jansen (NL, Noordwijk) (2023)
Axel Pairon gallery (BE, Knokke) (2023)
Object Rotterdam (NL, Rotterdam) (2023)
Makers Momenten - Kunstgarage Franx (NL, Zoetermeer) (2022)
The Best of Graduates 2022 - Galerie Ron Mandos (NL, Amsterdam) (2022)
Graduation Show - Willem de Kooning Academy (NL, Rotterdam) (2022)
Programs:
INVERSIE #6 Talent Development program, (NL) (2026/2027)
Schemerlicht x STRP - Talent Development program (NL) (2026)
Artist-in-Residence at Forci Art Foundation (IT, Lucca) (2024)
Grants / Award / Nominations:
Kick-start Grant - Stimuleringsfonds (2026)
Voucher Artisan - Mondriaan Fonds (2026)
Development Grant - Het Cultuurfonds (2025)
Voucher Development - Mondriaan Fonds (2025)
The John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation prize - second place (2024)
Voucher Artisan - Mondriaan Fonds (2024)
Lakeside Collection Award, Lakeside Collection - Nominated (2022)
Best of Graduates 2022, Galerie Ron Mandos - Nominated (2022)
Global Design Graduate Show, Arts Thread - Shortlisted (2022)
Collections:
Lakeside Collection, NL
Kunstcollectie Hoge school Rotterdam, NL
Forci Art Foundation - Art Collection, IT
Number 5 Foundation, NL
Numerous private collections in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal
Talks:
Guest teacher ‘KlooiKollege’ Dordrecht Library - KITE Education (NL, Dordrecht) (2026)
Guest teacher ‘KlooiKollege’ Museum Vlaardingen - KITE Education (NL, Vlaardingen) (2025)
Guest speaker - Art Radio, Rotterdam Art Week Podcast (2025)
Artist Talk ‘The story behind: Composing Oceans’ - Chroniques Biennales (FR, Marseille) (2024)
Guest teacher ‘KlooiKollege’ - KITE Education (NL, Rotterdam) (2024)
Publications:
Design Heritage Tourism. Between Sense of Time and Sense of Place. Chapter: Lorens, A Hybrid/Ephemeral/in Motion; Lettera Ventidue (2022)
De Groene Amsterdammer - editie #35; De jonge garde, Woestijn (2022)
Dutch Design Daily - Growing Cabinets (2021)