Mai Gurewitz
Italy
Mai Gurewitz (b. 1999) is a young Israeli artist living, studying, and working in Milan, Italy. Largely self-taught, she now works almost exclusively in oil on canvas and wood, mostly focusing on the female form.
She uses oil colors to capture a gestural moment in time, making the brush movements tell her story through restless compositions but with an amount of stillness that offers the viewer a moment of contemplation and perhaps also reflection.
Her recent work allows the viewer to glimpse into the private world of a girl suffering from anorexia, defined by the relationship between the realistic figure and her distorted perception of reality and between the light and darkness of life.
For her, these dark periods in her life are always present in her work in one form or another. "I do not run away from my past anymore – my art helps me recognize its importance and makes it worthwhile. Through painting I extract the power from the trauma."
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
