ARTIST BIO
Merle Luhaäär is a multi-disciplinary experimental artist who has been working during past five years in United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Estonia. She has graduated from Royal College of Art (London, UK) with MA in Fine Arts (2019) and has received her BA in Fine Arts from Kingston University London (2016). Merle has exhibited her works internationally in Dubai, Barcelona, London, Venice, Florence, Zurich, Basel and Tallinn. In summer 2021 she stepped out with a major solo art show “Somnum Exterreri“ (“Nightmare”) in her hometown Tallinn (Estonia), that she merged with launching the first NFT of a physical artwork in Estonia. 2022 Merle participated with her new collection of “The Boutique” paintings as a solo artist at World Art Dubai.
Merle Luhaäär’s artistic practice is underpinned by curiosity of the relationship between individual and society, micro- and macrocosm and relativity of reality. These themes are explored through a variety of mediums, such as painting, print, photography, installation, sculpture and moving image. Her art has developed into a product design line “by ML”.
M.L: “I’d call my style pop-surrealist, because my inspiration comes from both styles - surrealism and pop-art. I am working with popular culture and my artworks are metaphorical stories of everyday life, our dreams, fears and desires.”
Contact details
mobile phone: +372 56871200
email: merle.luhaaar@gmail.com
web page: www.merleluhaaar.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merleluhaaar/
Education
Royal College of Art, London, MA Fine Arts: Print (2017 — 2019)
Estonian Academy of Art, MA Art History and Visual Culture (2015 — 2017)
Estonian Academy of Art, Gallery Curating (2016)
Kingston University London, Fine Arts BA Honours (2014 – 2016)
Professional Work Experience
Visual Artist & Designer (2013 - present)
Art Writer (2016 — present)
Art Teacher (2020-2021)
Artistic Practice
December 2023
Cosmic, The Holy Art Gallery, London, UK.
Abundance @Art On Loop, The Holy Art Gallery, London UK.
Great Portland Street tube station, ArtSpaceInnovations, London, UK
July 2023
Authentic Marks 2023, Dubai design District, Dubai, U.A.E.
Solo exhbition Lost Alpaca Bar, Cork Bar, Tallinn, Estonia.
Last Smile (moving image) @Parallax Art Fair, Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
January 2023
Last Smile (digital art) @Art On Loop, The Holy Art Gallery, London, UK.
July - September 2022
Solo Exhibition FlamBOYant @The Place, Tallinn, Estonia.
March 2022
Solo exhibition The Boutique @World Art Dubai.
March 2022
Over The Realms Dreams XII, Luigi Bellini Museum, Florence, Italy.
December 2021
Personal Jesus and Last Playboy (paintings) @ Art Nou Millenni Gallery Christmas Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain. https://www.artnoumillenni.com/art/exhibitions/
June-July 2021
Solo exhibition Somnum Exterreri, ARS Artfactory, Tallinn, Estonia.
June 2021
Launch of the first NFT of a physical artwork in Estonia.
https://kultuur.err.ee/1608251823/eesti-kunstimaailm-saab-uue-nft-token-i-formaadis-kunstiteose
https://kultuur.err.ee/1608258597/galerii-eestis-paisati-muuki-nft-token-i-formaadis-kunstiteos
October 2020
Leobra/ I AM U (digital art) @ Artbox.Project Barcelona 1.0.
September 2020
Pink Balloon & Leobra (digital prints) @ Authentic Marks - 3rd Annual International Miniature Printmaking Exhibition, Dubai Art Season 2020.
August 2019
The Murdered Gucci Bird (mixed media painting)@ Art Box Projects Zürich, Swiss Art Expo 2019.
March 2019
Hey Mickey (digital print on acetate) @ Brexhibition, Courtyard Galleries, London.
February 2019
The Devil Inside (mixed media installation) @ Eyes Of Many Kinds @ CGP London.
June 2018
Boys Will Be Boys & Love Letter (paintings on canvas) @ International Summer Academy of Fine Arts and Media | Venice. Painting and exhibition with Professor Wolf Werdiger (Vienna). http://sommerakademievenedig.com/en/
January 2018
Superheroes @ Royal College of Art’s WIP Show 2018 (School of Fine Arts & Humanities).
December 2017
Total installation The Number You Have Dialled Has Been Changed, Finnish - Estonian group exhibition NUNTIUS - SUPERSONIC @ARSi Maja, Tallinn, Estonia.
October 2017
Digital artwork NIGHT LIGHT@“SPREAD THE VIRUS" online exhibition, DATEAGLE ART, http://dateagle.art/
July 2017
Video installation Confession, Video and Performance Art Festival FUTU MUHU @EAA Muhu A.I. Residency, https://www.ai-res.org/luhaaar
March 2017
Experimental Video Confession @VIDEOFORMES, http://festival2017.videoformes.com/portfolio/estonian-academy-of-arts/
February 2017 - January 2018
Solo Fine Art Print semi-permanent exhibition Come Down Darling Dusk Is Falling @ Ōlleteek,Tallinn, Estonia.
June 2017
Digital artwork Last Minute Lover (digital art) @The Artboxproject Basel 1.0 on LED screen at the Euroairport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, on the event platform Luminator.
Art Publications
Kadunud Tüdrukud. Sirp (16.10.2020) https://sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/kadunud-tudrukud/
Magical Hotspot by Darja Popolitova. A review by Merle Luhaäär (14.07.2020)
Henri Hütt: Romantic Loneliness. An exhibition review by Merle Luhaäär (06.10.2017): http://echogonewrong.com/henri-hutt-romantic-loneliness-exhibition-review-merle-luhaaar/
Blue Whale Society: A review of Dénes Farkas’ exhibition ‘How-to-calm-yourself-after-seeing-a-dead-body Techniques Echo Gone Wrong (24.05.2017):http://echogonewrong.com/blue-whale-society-denes-farkas/
Jalutuskäik galeriides – Troonid on veel tühjad, Sirp (05.05.2017):
http://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/jalutuskaik-galeriides-troonid-on-veel-tuhjad/
Internetis ei tea keegi, et sa oled koer, Sirp (31.03.2017):
http://sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/internetis-ei-tea-keegi-et-sa-oled-koer/
Sensations Unwrapped, Echo Gone Wrong (21.11.2016):
http://echogonewrong.com/sensations-unwrapped/
Chance has its own Logic, Echo Gone Wrong (15.11.2016):
http://echogonewrong.com/chance-has-its-own-logic/
PSEUDO: Parallel Realities of a Frozen Goldfish, Echo Gone Wrong (18.10.2016):
http://echogonewrong.com/pseudo-parallel-realities-of-a-frozen-goldfish/
The Guillotine Effect, Echo Gone Wrong: an interview with Tanel Rander (7.09.2016):
http://echogonewrong.com/the-guillotine-effect-an-interview-with-tanel-rander/
It’s Late Afternoon, Echo Gone Wrong (18.07.2016):
http://echogonewrong.com/its-late-afternoon/