Sapphire Moroz: “I often find my inspiration from theory, and then investigate how a concept has manifested historically in art and media. In my work, I try to express how such ideas function in my own personal life, or how I am impacted by their presence in popular culture.“
How and why did you start your career in art?
I’ve been in love with art since I was a child. My first memories of my identity were based around my need to draw and paint, and both my family and I always assumed I would be an artist. In my late adolescence, I explored other interests, but after taking a gap year, I found that art was calling back to me. This led me to attend the School of Art at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where I was born, raised, and continue to practice. After having just graduated with my BFA (Hons) in 2024, I feel peace knowing I pursued what I was meant to, and I look forward to continue creating. My artistic career is just beginning.
How did you discover your medium and why did you choose it?
I began painting with oils quite young due to my love of historic painting. Still, it’s hard to say I have chosen a medium; my works cross media because I am so in love with different art forms, and find it hard to focus on just one.
I have always painted, and I think I always will, but through my studies I fell in love with sculpture, installation, and video. These new explorations urged me to create paintings that existed in physical space as sculptural forms, or with interactive boundaries and modular elements. In doing so, I try to breathe new life into the tradition of oil painting by expanding its two-dimensional scope.
Not every idea can be a painting, and working in multiple disciplines allows me to explore and select which media work best with what I want to convey. Overall, I find integrating painting with other elements keeps me motivated and excited to work in the medium that I love.
Can you tell us about your creative process? How does your work come to life? How long does it take you to create a piece? When do you know it is finished?
Painting, for me, comes easier than figuring out what I’m going to paint. My creative process begins with research, reading, and image-gathering. I often find my inspiration from theory, and then investigate how a concept has manifested historically in art and media. In my work, I try to express how such ideas function in my own personal life, or how I am impacted by their presence in popular culture.
I am always gathering found media and objects to use in my work. Sometimes, I start with an object, a piece of furniture, or a frame. Other times, I’ll begin with collaging images, or through sketching the structures I want to create. Much of my recent work is painted from photographs from my personal family archives, or from staged photographs I set up of myself and the important people in my life.
After all, the idea and the image are more important to me than the process of making. Painting, for me, is a means to an end; I always know what I want a painting to look like, and I stop when I feel I have gotten as close as I can.
Who are your favorite artists and what inspires you?
The work of many of my favourite artists, such as Valie Export, Tracey Emin, and Sophie Calle, differs from my painting-focused work, but greatly inspires me conceptually. Still, I am incredibly influenced by historic and classical painting, and I owe a great deal to masters across time such as Gentileschi, Dürer, Rubens, Courbet, and Manet.
I am always inspired by: feminist media, early photography, the women in my life, my relationship, horror movies, and the last book I read.
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