Biography

Born in 1949 in Melbourne, Rafael Gurvich studied Architecture at the University of Melbourne for two years before transferring to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1969, completing his Associateship Diploma and Fellowship Diploma in painting in 1972.

In 1972 he was awarded the Elaine Targett Drawing Prize by the Hawthorn City Art Gallery. In 1975 Gurvich was awarded a Standard Grant by the Visual Arts Board of Australia and traveled to Europe, visiting Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. His 1981 travels in Indonesia, Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong inspired him to produce the Javanese Rhythms series of etchings, which were later exhibited at Powell Street Graphics, along with images produced from his 1984 visit to Japan.

In 1986, while minding a small farmlet, Gurvich began incorporating animal figures into his work. As anthropomorphic expressions of humour and optimism, these figures featured in many of the images reproduced in Gurvich's book, Rafael Gurvich: Nothing but blue skies, published in 1988.

Throughout his career, Gurvich has developed a unique pictorial vocabulary, reworking his own signs and motifs to create images which celebrate the joy of life.

Gurvich was commissioned in 1995 to create two designs for the mosaic floors in the International Terminal at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne.

Gurvichs’ work can be found in the public collections of the Australian National Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Parliament House Canberra, NSW State Library, Melbourne University Gallery, Ararat Gallery, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Mornington Regional Arts Centre, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, RMIT Melbourne, Print Council of Australia, Leeuwin Estate, Council for Adult Education Melbourne, Federal Airports Corporation, Murdoch Collection, and the Vilnius University Library in Lithuania.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2003 Jewish Museum of Australia, Gross Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Vanessa Wood Fine Art, Mosman, Sydney
2000 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne.
1996 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne.
1994 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1989 Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
1988 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1986 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1985 Powell Street Graphics, Melbourne
1983 The Painters Gallery, Sydney.
1979 Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne
1978 Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne
1977 Avant Gallery, Melbourne
1975 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1974 Ewing Gallery, Melbourne University, Melbourne


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2003 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
2001 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
2000 Monoprints, Chrysalis Publishing, Melbourne.
1999 We are Australian, The George Adam Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne; touring.
1999 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
1998 Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1998 Tattersall’s Club Landscape Invitation Art Prize, Brisbane
1997 SCEGGS Redlands Foundation Art Prize, Sydney
International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
1996 Fifth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1996 A Special Collection, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne,
1995 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
1994 Fremantle Print Award 1994, Arts Centre, Fremantle
1994 Fourth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1992 Colour and Life-a personal fusion, Roar Studios, Melbourne
1991 A Positive View, Jan Martin Lyttleton Gallery, Melbourne
Joint Exhibition, with Graeme Peebles, Qdos Gallery, Lorne, Victoria
1990 It All Starts Here-Contemporary Drawing, Group Exhib. Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1989 New Work. Group Exhibition, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1988 New Work, Group Exhib. Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1986 Oz drawing now, Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries, Sydney.
1986 Drawing survey 1, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne.
1985 Victorian print Workshop Proofs, Group Show McLelland Regional Gallery, Langwarren
1985 New Works- a gallery survey, Powell Street Graphics, Melbourne
1983 Joint Exhibition with Jennifer Plunkett, Elizabeth Street Studio, Melbourne
1982 Directions Now, Mitchelton Touring Print Exhibition, Group Show.
1981 Joint Exhibition with Jennifer Plunkett, De Carle Lane Studio, Brunswick, Melbourne
1980 Limited Edition Books Exhib., Macquarie Galleries, Sydney.
1979 Joint Exhibition with Victor Rubin Macquarie Galleries, Sydney.
1979 Joint Exhibition with John Dent, Highlander Lane Studio, Melbourne
1979 Orange Festival of the Arts, Group Show, NSW
1979 Art in Worship, St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ringwood
1978 Corio Prize, Geelong Regional Art Gallery
1978 Blake Prize, Sydney
1978 Prints and Drawing, Melbourne University Gallery, Travelling Exhib.
1977 Genre Painting, Group Show, Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne.
Mornington Peninsula Drawing Prize, Victoria
Pioneer, Art Award, Swan Hill, Victoria.
Member Print, Print Council of Australia, Commission

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Parliament House, Canberra
National Gallery of Australia
NSW State Library
Melbourne University Gallery
Ararat Gallery, Victoria
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Ministry for the Arts
Print Council of Australia
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
RMIT University
Vilnius University Library, Vilnius, Lithuania
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Arnold Bloch Leibler
Council of Adult Education
Murdoch Collection
Federal Airports, Corporation
Leeuwin Estate

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