Hello, I am
Alice Gur-Arie
Writer and self taught artist who takes photographs around the world and repaints them into limited edition, fine art images. Inspired by the natural world, landscapes, seascapes, nature and wildlife dominate my portfolio, ranging in style from soft, textured tones to bold, saturated abstracts.
ABOUT
I began my career in advertising as a conceptual copywriter and graphic designer. Eventually moving client-side, I had international responsibility for the direction, development and implementation of marketing strategy and communications for global brands. 11 years ago I returned to my creative roots.
My full time practice focuses on the "sweet spot" where photography and painting converge. There I invite the viewer to replace the window through which they see the world, with a lens that interprets visual experience into something that is at once familiar and foreign. Inspired by the natural world, landscapes, seascapes, and wildlife dominate my portfolio, ranging in style from bold saturated abstracts to soft, textured tones.
In the creative process for developing my interpretive works, I treat my photograph as the canvas. The photographs, taken around the world, are repainted by hand with a “brush” digitally, using washes to create layers, and blowing up the image to paint pixel by pixel as detail requires. Importantly, my work is not about digital manipulation (I do NOT use Photoshop) but about re-imagining experience.
My solo exhibitions include the Embassy of Iceland and the Coningsby Gallery in London.
Recognition highlights: ArtGemini Prize (shortlisted); LensCulture Art Photography Award Gallery (featured); Aesthetica Art Prize (long listed); The Secret Art Prize (long listed); Terry O'Neill Photography Award (2 series nominated); Bridgeman Images Studio Award (shortlisted); Christie’s London (2 works auctioned); Royal Ontario Museum (winner, national design competition to promote the Smithsonian’s Travelling Exhibition, “The Precious Legacy”.)
I recently published a two book project inspired by the ancient Chinese world view of the universe. Twelve: Shengxiao Zodiac Creatures in Art and Words offers 32 hand painted photographs and twelve short stories relating to each of the Chinese "year of" zodiac animals. Twelve can be found here https://issuu.com/agurarie/docs/twelve. The companion book Five: Wuxing Elements in Art and Words, features 81 landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes and abstracts aligned with the five wuxing themes: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Five can be found here https://issuu.com/agurarie/docs/five. Available only digitally, both books are free to browse. Forwards by Asian art scholar John E. Vollmer.
My images feature on book covers, and are held in private collections in the UK, the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Israel.
I hold degrees in Education, English literature and Business, but I am a self taught artist.
I am a past Trustee of Gasworks Dock Partnership, a registered charity and social enterprise formed to act as a vehicle for the community led regeneration of Cody Dock and the local waterways of the Lower Lea River. In this role I had lead responsibility for strategic communications and the development of an arts and creative industries community at Cody Dock.
CONTACT
Email - alice@alicegur-arie.com
Web -
www.alicegur-arie.com
Instagram -
@alicegur_arie
ONLINE GALLERY
(Please note all images are shown in square format. Therefore some areas of the artwork have been cropped.)
All works in the Gallery are for sale. Please contact Alice directly for more information or to discuss a commission.
How would you describe your work to someone seeing it for the first time?
I would like to say my images are engaging, distinctive, unusual, thought provoking - “about” rather than “of”. But describing what I see in terms of colours, sizes, shapes, patterns and textures is very different than expressing what I think an image is about.
For that reason I would prefer to ask the viewer what they see when they look at the work. Because my art is interpretive, it’s important to understand how people respond to it, and what they are responding to - or not - emotionally as well as intellectually. What they see, what they think about the work, and how it makes them feel.
Often, viewers see very different things than what I intended or was striving for (especially with the abstracts). I don’t think that’s a shortcoming - there is not just one right way to look at any piece of art, because art is individual, and personal.
What and which artists have influenced your work?
Some of the artists who opened my eyes to various aspects of making art include those below, but the answer to this question is open ended, and changes over time as my own artistic development evolves.
- Egon Schiele, for his joyous ability to make a single line sing
- Frederick Remington, for his mastery of balance
- Cindy Sherman, for her unrelenting exploration of reinvention
- Henry Moore, for his matchless ability to make me look his pieces from all sides and angles, and see what is not there (as well as what is)
- Georgia O’Keefe, for her ability to compel a sense of destination
- Edward Hopper, who sparked my love for the world at night
- Alex Colville, for his ability to convey urgency in a frozen moment in time
- Henri Cartier-Bresson, who taught us all how to “see”
Two of the key influences that shaped my outlook and interests, and awakened my imagination at a very young age, were
- the National Geographic, whose children’s version of their publication ignited the lifelong passion to explore the natural world and engage with the creatures that inhabit it, and,
- Jacques Cousteau, who introduced me to the concept of “other worlds”
If you could collaborate with any artist past or present, who would you select and why?
Bruce Springsteen. I can imagine creating a book of b/w (straight) photographic images of the people and places in the America he imagined and brought to life in his songbook.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I have just finished the first of a two part project that combines approximately 50 works of my interpretive art and 12 of my short stories, based on the conceptual scheme of the Chinese zodiac. The second part, containing 6 poems, 5 short stories and approximately 35 interpretive artworks, will be completed by the end of the year.
MY TOP 5 ARTWORKS
1 - Mascot (UK)
2 - Fallen Leaves (France)
3 - Noon at Beach Point (France)
4 - Angel and the Annunciation (Israel)
5 - Ruby Sky (Portugal)
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