Irma Irsara’s new exhibition at 54 The Gallery marks a return to painting for an artist whose practice has long embraced a multidisciplinary approach. Her work spans printmaking, artist’s books, installation, fibre art, and video, yet her focus remains on issues relating to the natural environment.
Vanishing Point features large-scale mixed-media paintings on canvas, combining oil and acrylic with elements such as marble sand and flecked gold leaf. A complementary series of smaller works on board incorporates materials recovered from the Thames foreshore at low tide.
Irsara’s continuing preoccupation with the natural environment is informed by her upbringing in the foothills of Monte Croce in northern Italy – an awareness she has brought to the urban landscape where she has lived since the 1980s.