Artist Spotlight - Ira Hoffecker — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Biography

Ira Hoffecker is a German-Canadian artist who immigrated to Canada in 2004 and is now based in Victoria, Canada. She is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.
Ira holds an MFA (2018) from Plymouth University (England) and Transart Institute, New York (USA) and a First Class Bachelor (Honours) in Fine Art (2015) from the University of Gloucestershire (England).
She previously obtained a Diploma of Fine Arts (2013) from Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria (Canada).

Green Velvet, 2024. Oil on Canvas. 152.4 cm x 101.6 cm

Her work has been exhibited in solo, duo and group exhibitions in Germany, England and Canada. In 2015, Ira was one of 20 UK graduates whose work was shortlisted for the Graduate Art Prize in London. She won the first prize in the juried ‘Abstract Show 2015’ in Vancouver with her painting Alexanderplatz VIII. Her Camp Moschendorf II painting was shortlisted for the British John Moore Painting Prize 2016. The painting was also exhibited at the 2016 Liverpool Biennial.

Arcadia, 2024. Oil on Canvas. 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm

Ira’s film Meanwhile in La La Land was chosen for the Official Selection at the Manchester Film Festival 2018 and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Back in the Box Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2017. Her video History as Personal Memory was chosen for the Official Selection in reserve for the German United Film Festival in Berlin in 2018.

Shangri-La, 2024. Oil on Canvas. 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm

Ira has completed a 3-month residency in Berlin at Takt and in 2020 in Buenos Aires at Projecto Ace. Her work continues to be promoted in various magazines, recently in Victoria’s Boulevard Magazine and New York’s New Visionary Art Magazine.

The Heat, 2024. Oil on Canvas, 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm.

Artist Statement

I am interested in the amalgamation of abstraction and representation of plant inspired subjects within imagined habitats as liminal spaces. My paintings extend organic shapes within abstracted spaces and imagined landscapes that play with depth, lines, and layers.

The Deep Blue, 2024. Oil on Canvas, 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm.

Organic material analysis and interpretation became part of my exploration process. I am working with oil paints as I use organic imagery as inspiration. Oil paint has a very different application regime than acrylic paint and can be worked with for much longer, allowing me to create subtle gradations.

These Precious Days, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm.

Color impacts how I integrate organic ideas with abstract shapes on the canvas. During my years of studying fine art, I engaged in purposeful colour theory research. My approach to color is influenced by colour masters and theorists like Itten, Albers, Goethe and others.

Beyond the Map, 2024. Oil on Canvas, 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm.

I work with flatness and depth both in my shape development, and the paintings’ spatial components. The colour-shape-space decisions energise and further the paintings’ overall compositions.”

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