Miranda Skoczek is inspired by opulence. Not the kind you see in lifestyles of the rich and famous, though it might be. Nor the sort you find in the troves of the world’s museums and places of worship, though again it could be. But for Skoczek, opulence doesn’t equal luxury so much as joy and the pursuit of it – just as easily found in the slums of India during Holi, when the streets become such a riot of colour and adornment that the harsh living conditions are momentarily overshadowed.
Architecture, pop culture, fashion, religious iconography, antiquities, art history, traditional arts and crafts, music, travel, mysticism, talismans, interior design and customary rituals are some of the influences that shape Skoczek’s practice. Her paintings are spatial and emotional responses to everything she consumes and surrounds herself with, informed by a theoretical understanding of colour and composition.
To what extent her surroundings impact her art practice was evident during Melbourne’s protracted COVID-19 experience. Skoczek continued to paint while juggling home-schooling as a single mother and confirmed her home as an oasis – an extension of herself and identity, where her dreams are actualised and restored. This has imbued her practice with deeper contemplations on time, space, change, transience, history and meaning, while simultaneously embracing contrasts as broad as those of the artist herself – materialistic yet spiritual, sometimes physical, sometimes soft and lyrical, intuitive and feminine, strong and self-assured.
Skoczek undertook an Artist in Residency at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in 2025 and her Flowers for Gosia (2026) was shown with the ATW at Melbourne Art Fair 2026. She was selected for the first Australian artist collaboration with Pandora, creating commissioned work for the flagship Melbourne Central store and symbols available within the jewellery range for a limited period. Her artwork has been exhibited consistently in Australia since 2007, including Linden New Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art (2019), McClelland Gallery and internationally in Copenhagen and Hong Kong. She has a Bachelor of Fine Art – Painting from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2004, winning the VCA’s painting prize the same year. Her work is in private collections in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and in the UK.