„Practice for Being“ by Sandra Sirp

On Thursday, November 20 at 18.00 Sandra Sirp's solo exhibition Practice for Being opens at Hobusepea Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until December 14.

Gray is existence in the dark of November.
Gray is the horizon, gray is the sea; gray as solid as stone.
Gray is balance – supportive and grounding, calm and steady.

Practice for Being addresses anxiety – both within us and around us. Through shades of gray and stony textures, I seek points of contact between tension and calm, trying to merge them into one continuous flow. 

How can we find our center, maintain focus, and stay afloat in a world that swells with anxiety? How can we keep our balance amid constant tides of rise and fall, in the ceaseless flow of information? How can we make time pause, if only for a moment, simply to be? In today’s world, this feels an ever-deepening challenge.

For me, painting has become a quiet mind practice through which, in the repetition of lines and surfaces, I encounter a state of presence and the gentle slowing of time in a world that moves too fast. I find a similar stillness when gazing at the endless sea –whether calm or turbulent, it always silences thought. The exhibition brings together a series of ten oil paintings titled Wave and an underground installation created as a space for grounding. 

Sandra Sirp (b. 1988) explores the quiet tension between form and emptiness through a refined minimalist and geometric visual language. Over the past decade, her practice has centered on themes of slowness, process, and balance, drawing a continuous line between her painting series and forming a cohesive, contemplative approach. Sirp holds a BA in Art Education from Tallinn University (2012) and a BA in Media Graphics from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2017). She furthered her studies in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto (2015–2016), and in Art Education MA in the joint program of
the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University (2019–2022). Since 2023, she has been a member of the Estonian Painters’ Association. Her works are held in private collections as well as in the collection of the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA).

www.sandrasirp.com
Sound: Sven Liba

The artist’s gratitude goes to: Anna Kõuhkna, Sven Liba, Karl Taul, Toomas Übner.
Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Exhibitions at Hobusepea Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, and Liviko AS.

Additional information:
Hobusepea Gallery
Tel: +372 56 451 591
      +372 52 85 324
      +372 6 276 777
E-mail: galerii@eaa.ee
Hobusepea 2, Tallinn 10133
hobusepeadraakon.ee
Wed‒Sun 12.00‒18.00