Gur-Arie, Alice (Bridgeman Studio)
Creator details
- Name
- Gur-Arie, Alice
- Nationality
- Canadian
- Biography
- Alice Gur-Arie began her career as a conceptual copywriter, graphic designer, and creative director, eventually responsible for positioning global brands, and developing and executing their marketing strategies. Several years ago she returned to her creative roots, producing work that sits in the sweet spot where painting and photography converge. Combining her own photography from around the world with painting, she invites 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, landscape, seascape and wildlife images dominate her portfolio, ranging in style from bold saturated abstracts to soft, textured tones. Alice is a self taught artist. Treating a photograph as a canvas, images are painted by hand digitally with a "brush", sometimes in layers, sometimes pixel by pixel. Of her creative approach she says, "What is critical, is understanding that my work is not about digital manipulation, but about re-imagining experience”. Alice has published a two part art book project. Twelve: Shengxiao Zodiac Creatures in Art and Words contains 32 images of the creatures we have come to know as "Year Of" animals, and twelve short stories relating to each one. TWELVE can be seen here: https://issuu.com/agurarie/docs/twelve. The companion book, Five: Wuxing Elements in Art and Words, features over 80 landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes and abstracts, aligned to the five wuxing themes: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Together these books present an inspired interpretation of the ancient Chinese world view as a framework for creative expression. FIVE can be seen here: https://issuu.com/agurarie/docs/five. Ms. Gur-Arie has had a number of solo exhibitions, including The Iceland Trilogy at the Embassy of Iceland in London; Black, White and Red, in Nice, France; and Spring and Other Reasons, at Coningsby Gallery London. Alice’s work has been auctioned at Christie’s London, and selected by US publishers for book covers. Ms Gur-Arie is a past Trustee of Positive View Foundation, a UK based charity that uses photography to transform the lives of disadvantaged 16-25 year olds. Alice is represented by a number of UK based galleries, and Singulart and Bridgeman Images internationally. She has exhibited at Parallax Art Fair and Roy's People Art Fair, and regularly shows work in Blackheath Arts Society exhibitions in London. Awards and Recognition ArtGemini Prize (short listed) Tagsmart Artist of the Week Secret Art Prize (long listed) Top 10 Artworks CultureLabel Bridgeman Images Studio Award (short listed) Aesthetica Art Prize (long listed) Terry O'Neill Tag Photography Award (2 series nominated) Royal Ontario Museum (winner) National competition to design the Smithsonian International Travelling Exhibition campaign for The Precious Legacy Commissions and Private Collections Alice has delivered numerous commissions for art consultants; her work is held in private collections in the UK, the US, Canada, Israel, Germany, Switzerland and Israel. Education Alice holds degrees in English literature, Education, and Business from York University in Toronto, Canada.
