Moyna Flannigan Isobel 1998 © Moyna Flannigan

Biography

Born 1963
Nationality Scottish

Moyna Flannigan is best known for her fictional portraits based on wry and penetrating observations of middle-class society. Born in Kirkcaldy, Flannigan studied at Edinburgh College of Art and Yale University School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut. After a period of painting in an abstract style she returned to figurative painting around 1995. Flannigan’s paintings depict types and characters influenced by middle-class culture and art history, and are often characterised by dry humour and sense of unease. She paints slowly, without using preparatory drawings or models but by working out her ideas directly onto the canvas. Coloured light is integral to what she depicts, and her paintings have a luminous quality. Her exhibitions include: The Body Stretches to the Edge, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam (2013); Moyna Flannigan: New Work – What you see is where you’re at, Part 3, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2010) and Trouble Loves Me, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York (2008). She currently lives and works in the Edinburgh area.