Bobbi Essers

B.2000

Based in Groningen, Netherlands

Introduction

Bobbi Essers’ paintings serve as an intimate portal into the lives of a close-knit friendship group in their early twenties. In her work, Essers challenges conventional perceptions of gender and sexuality, emphasising that these traits transcend specific appearances and roles. She meticulously details textures, such as skin and textiles, preserving the memories that resonate within them.

Education

2024 Master of Fine Art, Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen, Netherlands
2022 BA, Fine Art (Hons), Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, Netherlands
2018 Fine Art Preparatory Course, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, Netherlands
2017 HAVO, Het Stedelijk Lyceum Kottenpark, Enschede, Netherlands

Solo Exhibitions

2024
The World at Our Command, Unit, London, UK

2023
Rumour has it (online), Unit, London, UK
Living in a daydream, Never Gallery, Oostende, Belgium
I’ll meet you at nightfall, Allard Wildenberg Projects, Naarden, Netherlands

2022
Beat around the bush, Sanquin, Galerie Joghem, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Group Exhibitions

2024
The Sphere of Reality and Fantasy, Corridor Foundation, Shenzhen, China
In Focus, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands
Licked by the Waves, MuseumMORE, Netherlands

2023
The Preuss Collection, Better Go South Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Group Show, Marian Cramer Projects, Los Angeles, USA
Ready, set, go!, Gallery Larik, Utrecht, Netherlands
Art Rotterdam, Gallery StigtervanDoesburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Duoshow, Gallery StigtervanDoesburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Firestarter, The Curator’s Room, Barcelona, Spain

2022
Wintersalon 2022, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Buning Brongers Prize show, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Collection presentation, MuseumMORE, Gorssel, Netherlands
SBK Sprouts young talent, SBK KNSM, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arty Party, Melkweg expo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Best of Graduates, Gallery Ron Mandos, Amsterdam Netherlands
Exposure, HKU graduation show, HKU, Utrecht, Netherlands
Scratched, duoshow with Krijn Kroes, Oude rechtbank Amsterdam Zuid, Netherlands

2020
Skidmark, HKU groupshow, de Vegtvliet, Breukelen, Netherlands

Selected Press

2025
March ‘The Rise of Split-Screen Painting’, Frieze Magazine

2024
October, ‘Must-See: Bobbi Essers Romanticises Friendship’, Frieze Magazine
September ‘Bobbi Essers Puts Friendship First in ‘The World at Our Command”, Hypebeast

2023
October ‘Rauwe Tederheid’, Tableau, Floor Wiegernick
October ‘Kunstenares Bobbi Essers: “Mijn werken zijn een ode aan mijn vrienden”’, Twentelife
August ’10 Emerging Painters Born in the 2000s to Watch Now’, Artsy Editorial
February ‘Bobbi Essers: eigengereid realist’, Muze magazine
January ‘Tussen provocatie en suggestie: de invloed van het medium op de perceptie van het naakt’, Mister Motley
‘De schilderijen van Bobbi Essers doen denken aan de Instagramfeed van een gen Z’er’, Het Parool

2022
December ‘Bobbi uit Enschede scoort met bijzondere kunst: van maandverband tot bloot, maar zonder hoofd’, Tubantia
October ‘Een eerbetoon aan vriendschap – in gesprek met Bobbi Essers’, Mister Motley
‘Bobbi Essers, Eindexamens 2022’, Metropolis M
August ‘Image of the day’, ELEPHANT.art
June ‘De Prijswinnaars 2022’, Buning Brongers ‘Eindexamenwerk 2022’, BK-Informatie

Awards & Nominations

2023
Royal Award for Modern Painting, Netherlands, 2023
Financial Newspaper (Financieel Dagblad) Talent of 2023, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2022
SBK-Otto Hetterscheid Stimulerings prize Nominee, Amsterdam, Netherlands SBK Sprouts Young Talents Award Nominee, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ron Mandos Public Choice Award Winner, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Buning Brongers Prize Winner, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dooyewaard Stipendium Nominee, Blaricum, Netherlands

“Essers’ paintings capture the gravity of teenage relationships. Her works are based on surreptitiously taken photographs of her tightly knit queer friendship group”

– Bella Bonner Evans, Curator

Bobbi Essers’ artistic journey begins with a deep-rooted fascination for the compelling power of stories, particularly those involving adventure and friendship. Born in Enschede, Netherlands in 2000, she ventured beyond her hometown at the age of 18 to pursue an artistic practice that primarily focuses on eternalising her dear friends within the intimate, spontaneous environments they share.

Her paintings serve as an intimate portal into the lives of a close-knit friend group in their early twenties. In her work, Essers challenges conventional perceptions of gender and sexuality, emphasising that these traits transcend specific appearances and roles. She meticulously details textures, such as skin and textiles, preserving the memories that resonate within them. She emphasises: “Because clothing is so often seen as an assignment of gender roles, I like to play with those conventions. I have the feeling that we each have our own style and are special in that way, while that is of course not true at all, it is the fashion of a certain time.”

Bobbi Essers in her studio, 2023.

Selected Works

Bobbi Essers

The World At Our Command

2024

Oil on canvas
245 x 300 cm

Bobbi Essers

Should we just keep driving?

2024

Oil on canvas
215 x 175 cm

Bobbi Essers

No one to tell us no

2024

Oil paint on canvas
187 x 216 cm

Bobbi Essers

Yet we still want more

2024

Oil paint on canvas
80 x 90 cm

Bobbi Essers

Worlds apart but close at heart

2024

Oil on canvas
140 x 111 cm

Bobbi Essers

You can bet it was me

2024

Oil paint on canvas
70 x 90 cm

Bobbi Essers

I’ve been blind as can be

2023

Oil on canvas
220 x 175 cm

Bobbi Essers

Up to no good

2023

Oil on canvas
220 x 175 cm

Bobbi Essers

I’m looking for the silver lining

2023

Oil on canvas
220 x 175 cm

Bobbi Essers

Rumour has it

2023

Oil on canvas
220 x 175 cm

Bobbi Essers

Too soon to tell

2023

Oil on canvas
220 x 175 cm

Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers, The World at Our Command, Unit, 2024.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers in "In Focus" at Central Museum Utrecht, 2024
Installation View: Bobbi Essers in "In Focus" at Central Museum Utrecht, 2024
Installation View: Bobbi Essers in "Licked By Waves" at Museum More, 2024
Bobbi Essers receives the Royal Award for Dutch Modern Painting 2023 from HRH King Willem-Alexander.
Installation View: Bobbi Essers in "In Focus" at Central Museum Utrecht, 2024

Exhibitions

In the News

Biography

Bobbi Essers (b. 2000) hails from Enschede, Netherlands and currently lives and works in Amsterdam. She won the Buning Brongers Prize for Painting (Amsterdam) in 2022, the same year she graduated with a Fine Art degree from the HKU in Utrecht. In 2023, she won the Royal Award for Modern Painting, presented to her by HRH King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

Essers has been recognised as one of the top ten emerging painters born in the 2000s to watch by Artsy (August, 2023). Her recent museum exhibitions include the group shows In Focus at Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands, and Licked by the Waves at Museum MORE, Gorssel, Netherlands.

Recent solo exhibitions include I’ll meet you at nightfall, Allard Wildenberg Projects, Naarden, Netherlands (2023) and Living in a Daydream, Oever Gallery, Oostende, Belgium (2023). Essers has featured in recent group exhibitions with Marian Cramer Projects, Los Angeles, USA (2023); The Preuss Collection, Better go south gallery, Berlin (2023); and Gallery Stigtervan Doesburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2023).

View CV

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Bobbi Essers

Bobbi Essers

Introduction

Introduction

Education

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Selected Press

Awards & Nominations

“Essers’ paintings capture the gravity of teenage relationships. Her works are based on surreptitiously taken photographs of her tightly knit queer friendship group”

– Bella Bonner Evans, Curator

Selected Works

Exhibitions

Bobbi Essers

TEN

Bobbi Essers

In the News

Bobbi Essers: Voice of a Generation

Bobbi Essers Wins The Royal Award for Dutch Modern Painting 2023

Biography

Explore more artists

Tyler Hobbs

Esther Janssen

Jess Allen

Stacey Gillian Abe

Mauro C. Martinez

Jake Wood-Evans

William Mapan

Jason Boyd Kinsella

Amy Hui Li

Miguel Ángel Payano Jr.

Unit, Mayfair

Press Enquiries

Stay in touch

Welcome to Unit

How can we help?

Request a catalogue

How can we help?

Make an offer

Select your purchase method

Connect Wallet

Bobbi Essers

Bobbi Essers

Introduction

Introduction

Education

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Selected Press

Awards & Nominations

“Essers’ paintings capture the gravity of teenage relationships. Her works are based on surreptitiously taken photographs of her tightly knit queer friendship group” – Bella Bonner Evans, Curator

Selected Works

Exhibitions

Bobbi Essers

TEN

Bobbi Essers

In the News

Bobbi Essers: Voice of a Generation

Bobbi Essers Wins The Royal Award for Dutch Modern Painting 2023

Biography

Explore more artists

Tyler Hobbs

Esther Janssen

Jess Allen

Stacey Gillian Abe

Mauro C. Martinez

Jake Wood-Evans

William Mapan

Jason Boyd Kinsella

Amy Hui Li

Miguel Ángel Payano Jr.

Unit, Mayfair

Press Enquiries

“Essers’ paintings capture the gravity of teenage relationships. Her works are based on surreptitiously taken photographs of her tightly knit queer friendship group”

– Bella Bonner Evans, Curator