About

The central focus of Petra Kaminen Mosher’s work is the use of colour and forms taken from nature. Using reference photographs, she breaks down subjects such as landscapes, flora and fauna, and natural phenomena into basic tones, colours, and shapes, and then rebuilds these into abstracted compositions. The deliberately hard-edge hand-painted lozenge shape is a signature motif in all of her work. The varied iterations and applications of the lozenge shape layered against and between broadly applied free-form marks highlight the static and synthetic materiality of the painted surface and stand it in contrast to the dynamic natural world that it is constructed to represent. The artist’s intention is to create an aesthetically and structurally captivating composition that leads the viewer to discover and explore the forms within it while also contemplating the reality and emotional essence of the subject matter.

In 2020, Kaminen Mosher incorporated the traditional Finnish artistic craft of rya rug (Finnish, ryijy) weaving into her art practice. The design and construction of a rya rug combines painterly colour and tones with sculptural form and mass. The artist utilises the differences between weaving and painting in approach, materials, and execution to experiment with the conflict between superficial aesthetic appreciation and psychological effect. The visual metaphor she uses is wild fire, which represents global political and environmental devastation. In rug weaving, the visual metaphor is simplified into the abstracted sculptural fire cloud motif, and in painting, the wild fire imagery is juxtaposed with those of Lapland plants and landscape to emphasise the sense of dread and menace.

Kaminen Mosher's work could be categorised under such art historical designations as colourism, neo-traditionalism, pointillism, and lyrical abstraction. While these terms offer up some help in describing her work, her style is distinct (and philosophically separate) from these labels, and does not subscribe to any specific art historical school of thought.

Kaminen Mosher was born and raised in New York City, the only child of Finnish fine arts painter Marjukka Kaminen. She received a B.F.A. from the College of Fine Arts Boston University in 2002. She relocated to Finland permanently in 2004.