Moira Cameron

Moira Cameron (British, b. 1962) was born in London to a family of artists. Her father was the celebrated figurative sculptor Ronald Cameron (1930-2013). Her mother, Dorothy Cameron, was a sculptor in her own right. Half a century earlier, Dorothy’s mother had been among the first women to attend art school. 

Cameron earned a BA (Fine Art) from Ravensbourne College of Art and an MFA from Chelsea College of Art. In the 1980s, she and her husband, artist David Spiller (1942-2018), moved to New York City where Cameron created a body of work supplanting paper bags for canvas and painting text-based works.  Once they returned to the UK, her husband’s career gained ground and Cameron began to manage his practice and studio. While she continued to work independently, her focus was supporting David’s practice.

David fell ill and during his last years, while Cameron and their son (Xavier Spiller Cameron) cared for him, mother and son (also an artist) began a collaborative practice and created works as “Spiller + Cameron.”  A few years later, Xavier moved to the United States to pursue a solo career and encouraged his mother to do the same.  In 2024 she did just that, catalyzed to reimagine paintings she created decades before.  Inspired by a 2024 exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery, “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers”, Cameron began a series of paintings with historical underpinnings.  She submitted one such monumental painting (“A Life Lived”, 2024, oil on canvas, 2200 cm x 2200 cm) to the National Portrait Gallery’s annual competition.  Among the 1300+ portraits submitted from the world over, Cameron’s painting was selected as the 1st Prize winner (Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer 2025 Portrait Award 2025).  In the summer of 2025 Cameron’s paintings were on exhibition at London’s Vigo Gallery (“Moira Cameron: Delacroix”) and at Long-Sharp Gallery during London’s Treasure House Fair.  Both exhibitions ended in sold out shows.  Her works were next shown and sold out at The Armory Show (2025) and Untitled Miami (2025).  In March 2026, her painting a “A Life Lived” will be at the at the Laing Museum (the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK).

Cameron’s process is fluid.  She begins with a pastel sketch and spray paint, and follows with the application of thick oil paint applied by hand, with a brush, and with a knife.  The paint is scraped, washed away, and sometimes left completely alone.  In an interview with Richard McClure for the National Portrait Gallery, Cameron stated that “the drips, for me, add movement and sense of freedom – a return to painting purely for my own pleasure, without purpose or restraint.”  As to the celebrated painting from the National Portrait Gallery, which was based in part on a self-portrait Cameron created 40 years before, Cameron told McClure: “My posture conveys quiet fatigue, shoulders slightly slumped, head tilted in reflection.  The lines on my face, the subtle shadows, tell a story of time passing, of laughter and worry, of a life fully experienced.  It is more than a moment; it holds a lifetime within it.”

Cameron has studios in London and New York.