Icons of Nature - Sirpa Moghissi’s current series of work - draws on the traditions of icon painting. But golden halos have turned into large abstract shapes that play on the pictorial surface, echoing the rhythms of traditional iconography, but speaking the language of contemporary image making. And here, nature is the subject of worship, not human gods or saints.
Sirpa’s mixed media, multi layered collages combine drawing, printmaking, painting, photography and found imagery, built up on a birch wood surface. Rejecting any hierarchy of discipline, Sirpa has developed a uniquely individual approach, referencing both time honoured techniques and her own creative digital image making processes. The result is that, on the surface, the ideas for Sirpa’s work are rooted in the past, but the techniques she uses bring
them to the forefront of contemporary image making, moulding the past into the present whilst asking us to be vigilant in the way we step forward. As society begins to face up to the damage it has wrought on the planet, Sirpa’s work - with its symphony of colour, gold leaf and pattern, and its layering of images from nature - encourages us to celebrate and hold precious now her icons from the natural world.
Education
1997-1999 Middlesex University, MA in Fine Art, London
1993-1996 Byam Shaw School of Art, BA Hons. in Fine Art, London
Selected Recent Exhibitions
2021 Hampstead Garden Gallery, London - SOLO
2020 C & C Gallery, London - SOLO
2020 New York Volta, US, C&C Gallery
2020 London Art Fair, Mona Osman, Melissa Kime and Sirpa Moghissi, C & C Gallery, stand G9
2019 Icons of Nature II, 12 Star Gallery, London SW1 - SOLO
2019 Amalgamation, Cello Factory, curated by Alexander Hinks
2019 Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, Piccadilly, London
2019 CEOS 2019, Hornsey Town Hall, London
2018 Icons of Nature, C&C Gallery, London - SOLO
New York VOLTA, C&C Gallery, March 2020, Mona Osman, Zavier Ellis & Sirpa Moghissi (photo from Volta Art Fair Facebook site)
London Art Fair, C&C Gallery, Feb 2020, Mona Osman, Melissa Kime & Sirpa Moghissi
12 Star Gallery, European Commission, Dec 2019- Jan 2020. SOLO exhibition. (photos by Jamie Smith )
Royal Academy of Arts, London, Summer Exhibition 2019, Room VIII, curated by Bob and Roberta Smith. Animalis was featured in BBC2 program about the exhibition (Brenda Emmanus, )
© Sirpa Pajunen-Moghissi 2015