George Grie
George Grie | |
---|---|
photographed on MS Navigator of the Seas October 2012. | |
Born |
Yuri Gribanovski USSR |
Nationality | Canadian |
Known for | Digital Art |
Movement | Surrealism |
George Grie (born 1962) is a Russian-Canadian artist.
One of the first digital surrealism artists, Grie is known for numerous 3D, 2D, and matte painting images. Born in the USSR during the Soviet regime (aka Russian: Джордж Грие or Юрий Грибановский) he did not adopt the conventional and politically correct socialist realism art style.
Style
Grie's artistic style has been heavily influenced by famous surrealists such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, fantastic realists Zdzisław Beksiński and Wojciech Siudmak, and surreal photomanipulation artist Jerry Uelsmann. His neo-surrealist artwork is a combination of classic surrealist symbolism with modern fantasy, gothic, and visionary arttendencies.
The artist's digital neo-surrealistic artworks are an extraordinary visual record of his conceptual thoughts, philosophic views, fantasies, and dreams. Often journeying into the subconscious, Grie's photo-realistic artwork shows a magical, playful, and dream-like world laced with detail. Supernatural illusions, mystic romanticism, spiritual magic and gothic overtones are all intertwined in his virtual world. The end result on the viewer’s side is not always comfortable or conventional: there is a great deal of tension and alienation, yet not without an underlying tranquility, in the strange events taking place in the landscape of his imagination.
Life and work
George Grie had received a classical art education in various fine arts institutions before he started his career as a professional fine art painter and graphic artist. In the 1990's, George lived and worked in St. Petersburg where he had been an active member of the Pushkinskaya, 10 (art-center) and met many well-known artists and musicians such as Sergey Kuryokhin, Yuri Shevchuk, and Boris Grebenshchikov. His works presented in the State Russian Museum and in private collections in America, Finland, Canada, Russia, and UK.
Grie's artworks are full of strong and powerful images which rely on a visual impact. Use of a photo realistic technique giving a firm contrast between the light source and dark tonality, which can be seen in his early paintings, gives his artworks a graphical appearance. They are about capturing visual paradoxes: sometimes they would depict calm and contemplative moments, like solitude or melancholy. There is a stillness in his themes conveying a sense of inner-reflection and self-observation. The artist’s admiration for photography is the reason why Grie has shifted his artistic preferences from traditional fine art towards computer digital art. His previous experience and classical painting education gave him a complete freedom of both self-expression and self-exploration as an artist. He became a professional multimedia graphic design artist and joined the IBM Corporation as a lead new-media specialist. George was working there together with renown North American illustrator Oleg Lipchenko. Today, his prime interest lies within contemporary 2D & 3D graphic design software, 3D models and their applications. In 2002 he initiated a creation of a popular digital art-related web portal - Interartcenter.net. His creations have been featured in many worlds’ publications such as a Canadian high-school textbook "Art Works" by Emond Publishing, the Illustrated History textbook Denmark, University of Washington magazine USA.
The new form of digital art was born without pompous manifestations and noisy commercials. Some of us still consider digital and 3d art as something mechanical and artificial, something that is in some way out of human touch. This could not be more wrong. Computers don’t make art, people do. Computers are merely creative tools – much sophisticated ones. Once you try them, you will never give up moving forward. There might be just one tiny annoying obstacle between you and your perfect design – lack of imagination.— George Grie, Biography & Art Statement[1]
Bibliography
- 2014 Infinite Improbability: the best of George Grie, surreal art imagery, Hardcover, 45 Pages, USA [2]
- 2014 Surreal Fantasy Artworks: Neo-surrealism or Final Frontier Voyager, Paperback, 120 Pages, ISBN 978-1463576394, USA [3]
Work used by publishers
- 2010 Essay "The Known World" by Rob Dunn University of Washington Conservation Magazine, USA
- 2011 "Bowlby's Battle for Round Earth" by Frederick Leonhardt ISBN 1604819111, USA
- 2011 "Art Works" Textbook Emond Montgomery Publications ISBN 978-1-55239-320-8, Canada
- 2012 "Haunting Goth" book cover, The Sounds of the Uncanny University of Wales Press by Isabella van Elferen ISBN 0708325130, UK
- 2013 Illustrated History Textbook, Bonnier Publications ISBN 978-82-535-3170-0, Denmark
Artworks used by recording artists
Cover art for the music related projects
- London Symphony Orchestra, UK, conducted by maestro Predrag Gosta
- Wonderworld, UK & Norway, by Life Fire the current band of Uriah Heep's legendary keyboardist Ken Hensley
- Arc Angel, USA, Harlequins of Light by Jeff Cannata[4]
- Magellan, USA, Inert Momentum (TBA) by Trent and Wayne Gardner. The band utilised many guest musicians: Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Joey Franco (Twisted Sister), Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd)
- Magellan, USA, track "Good to Go" [5] Robert Lamm (lyrics) and Lee Loughnane (trumpet) from the iconic band Chicago
- Manager (Oleg Sudakov), Russia, World Dish, member of Russian punk band Grazhdanskaya Oborona by Yegor Letov
- Voyager, Australia, I am the revolution, The Meaning of I [6]
- Lalo Huber, Argentine, Lost in Kali Yuga
- Winterburst, France, Winterburst, The Mind Cave [7]
- Kayak, Netherlands, Letters from Utopia[8]
- Dawn of Destiny, Germany, Rebellion In Heaven
- Mad Hatter's Den, Finland, Dark Wheel EP, Welcome to the Den, MHD 2014
- Gert Emmens, Netherlands, A Boy's World
- Winter in Eden, UK, At the end of the world,[9] Awakening
- Ken Snyder, US, Dysfunctional Order, Ken won 2007 & 2008 American Music Award in categories Best Instrumental Group & Instrumental Artist of The Year
Exhibitions
- Mistral gallery, London
- ArtNova gallery, Stockholm
- Cinema House gallery, Saint-Petersburg
- Artson gallery, Helsinki
- Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF)
- Artfocus – Canada's indoor art event Toronto
- Pixel Perfect: The Digital Fine Art Exhibition, Agora gallery New York City
- Contemporary Art London, New York, Toronto, Art Fair
References
- Mikkola, Jari (2009). "The Art of George Grie". The Journal of Anomalous Sciences. 10.
- George Grie "Surreal Fantasy Artworks: Neo-surrealism or Final Frontier Voyager". InterArtCenter, 2014 (Paperback, ISBN 978-1-46357-639-4)
- Markus et al.. "Art Works". Emond Montgomery Publications, 2011 (Hardcover, ISBN 978-1-55239-320-8)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Grie. |
- Modern Neo-Surrealism Art by George Grie the official website