Philippa Claire MacDuff is an Irish multidisciplinary artist, designer, and poet living and working in Los Angeles, California.

Working intuitively with a focus on meticulous process and layering, Claire’s work is informed by underlying and often hidden complexity. She strives to evoke a sense of ‘calm through chaos,’ in her abstract works through meditative and deliberate mark-making; seeing harmony and balance in an often all-too-chaotic world. 

Taking an almost sculptural approach to painting, Claire works in complex layers of transparent color, to create realism grasping at the precipice of the surreal and dreamlike. Her work is glossy, and vibrant, featuring a range of contemporary subjects with a mix of techniques both classical and unexpected. 

Her pieces often contain many layers of different media, building form and exploring the unique qualities of material pushed to its limit through a variety of applications. Fascinated by the human form and its expressions of strength and vulnerability, she continues to study traditional methods of portraiture and still life in parallel to abstract works. 

In addition to her main focus drawing and painting, Claire also works in printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and writes poetry and prose in tandem with visual art.

Claire was awarded a BA(Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Dundee, Scotland, in 2010. Her work has been recognized internationally, most recently with a 2022 award by the Placerville Arts Association, California, and has been exhibited across California, Scotland, and Ireland.

Contact Philippa Claire