It Comes in Waves 2017, pigment on paper, 700 x 500 mm. Photo: Carl Warner.
Michelle Eskola is a Finnish-Australian abstract painter. Her works explore the intersection between painting and installation. They begin as a small gesture, a shape, colour or line that is then built on in a spontaneous way. Michelle considers her practice to be a type of imperfect printing. A continuous process that extends, repeats, falters, begins again, and is never through.
Working with pigments and employing dry-brush, staining and hard-edge techniques, Michelle applies a minimalist aesthetic to create layered, shifting visual fields. Her work is included in the permanent collections of Gadens Lawyers, Mater Hospital, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Museum of Brisbane, and private collections throughout Australia and Japan.
With a background in time-based media, Michelle began working with natural and synthetic pigments in 2014 and is continuing her practice-led exploration into contemporary abstract painting, hand-making each of her works in her Melbourne home studio.
Select Exhibitions
2018 Artist in Residence, Museum of Brisbane (solo)
2018 Scroll, STABLE Art Space
2017 Atmospheres and Stability, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane (solo)
2016 Collectibles VI, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane
2016 Actual/Potential Matter, SEVENTH Gallery, Melbourne (solo)
2016 (Every) Now and Then/Again, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne (collaboration)
2016 Less, The Laundry Art Space, Brisbane
2016 Unconscious Couplings, Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney (collaboration)
2015 Collectibles V, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane
2015 Program Launch, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2015 At This Time, This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne
2015 Luminous Plastic, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane (solo)
2015 D&M, Metro Arts, Brisbane (collaboration)
2015 On Air, Jugglers Art Space, Brisbane
2014 Collectibles IV, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane
2014 Räyättää, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane (solo)
2014 Melbourne Art Fair, Inbetweenspaces Polyamorous Living Lab, Melbourne
2014 Eightone, Southbank, Brisbane
2014 Abso, Southbank, Brisbane
2014 Discord and Harmony, West End, Brisbane
2013 Open Studio, Southbank, Brisbane
2013 All Things in Order, West End, Brisbane
2013 Luminosity, Southbank Brisbane
2013 Archive Project, Brisbane
2009 Revenge of the Ramstag Scholarship Kids, The Block, Brisbane
2008 Fresher, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
2008 Ramstag Scholarship Kids, the Block and H Block Gallery, Brisbane
2007 ITouch, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2007 Viewfinder, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2006 Transmute, The Block, Brisbane
Collections
2018 Museum of Brisbane
2017 Creative Thinking - Positive Solutions Art Collection, Brisbane
2017 Gadens Lawyers Public Art Collection, Brisbane
2015 Mater Health Services Public Art Collection, Curatorial selection
2015 Sunshine Coast University Hospital Public Art Collection, Curatorial selection
Awards
2018 Artist in Residence, Museum of Brisbane, supported by Tim Fairfax AC
2016 Noosa Art Award (Finalist) Noosa Regional Gallery, Sunshine Coast
2015 Clayton Utz Art Award (Finalist) Clayton Utz Law Firm, Brisbane
2014 Brian Tucker Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement in Visual Arts
2008 Tim Fairfax AC Learning Potential Fund Scholarship Award (Honours), Queensland University of Technology
Featured Publications
2017 Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Space and Clarity in Practice, Jenna Green
2016 SEVENTH Gallery, Matter Exchanged, Jade Forester
2016 Blindside Gallery, Painting Beyond Matter, Liam Roderick
2015 Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Pigment and Pixel, Katelyn Jane Dunn
2015 Metro Arts, Brisbane, D&M, Ace Wagstaff
2015 Räjäyttää, Danielle Clej
Academic Achievement
2007 – 2008 Honours Fine Arts (Visual Art) Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
2005 – 2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art) QUT
2012 – 2014 Advanced Diploma Visual Art (Fine and Studio Art), South Bank Institute of Technology.
2021 Creative Thinking: Strategic Projects, Node Centre for Curatorial Studies, Berlin
2015 Guest Lecturer, A Creative Life, University of Canberra.
2015 Guest Lecturer, Modernism Today, University of Canberra.
2014 Chair, Visual Arts Association, South Bank Institute of Technology.
2014 Brian Tucker Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement in Visual Arts, South Bank Institute of Technology.
2007 – 2008 Tim Fairfax AC Learning Potential Fund Scholarship Award, QUT.