Beyond the Map

Ira Hoffecker is a German-Canadian artist, emigrating from Germany to Canada in 2004 and now a Canadian citizen. She resides and maintains her art practice in Victoria, Canada and New York, USA, and is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. “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. Organic material analysis and interpretation became part of my exploration process. I am working with oil paintings 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. Colour 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 colour is influenced by colour master and theorists like Itten, Albers, Goethe and others. I work with flatness and depth both in my shape development and the paintings’ spatial components. The colour-shape decisions energize and further the paintings’ overall compositions.”