Clair de Lune

About Clair de Lune

This contemporary abstract painting was inspired by nature and features a moon.

Vancouver-based artist Fiona Ackerman has often turned to the beauty of the natural world as a source of inspiration. This is one of a series of paintings called ‘Glasslands’ that she created to explore the idea of the dual nature of the garden—at once a reflection of nature and the artificial. This concept of a garden called Heterotopia (a world within worlds) where the ‘wildness’ of a garden is controlled was discussed by Michel Foucault, a famous 20th-century French philosopher and historian. In this painting, graphic and organic shapes--the moon, and various plants create a dynamic composition in a vivid palette of red, purple, green, blue-gray and black and white.

“These 26 paintings emerged from a process of exploration beginning with pieces of painted paper cut in shapes of foliage, placed inside a mirror box (hence, glass-land). The resulting three-dimensional mirrored images shatter, amplify and disrupt conventional views of nature rendered on a flat surface, giving rise to lush compositions with depth and unexpected juxtapositions.” Fiona Ackerman

Fiona Ackerman was born in Ottawa in 1978. She studied painting at Concordia University and completed a BFA at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2002. She has held more than 20 solo exhibitions internationally. Fiona’s studio practice extends beyond painting to include several large-scale murals, video and other public art projects. In her free time, she writes and records music and videos, often working with other musicians. She currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC.