Ella Guru

Ella Guru (born May 24, 1966) is an American Stuckist painter and musician living in London. Her pseudonym is taken from a Captain Beefheart song on the "Trout Mask Replica" album.

Life and career

Guru was born in Ohio, USA and graduated from Ohio State University. She has lived in London since 1991 and is married to Stuckist artist Sexton Ming. Her daughter Lucy was born in 2004. In 1993, she was number one in the Indie charts with the group "Voodoo Queens". Guru was one of the twelve founder members of the pro-figurative painting Stuckists art group, and took part in demonstrations against the Turner Prize outside Tate Britain in 1999. She started the Stuckist web site, which has been key to spreading the movement worldwide (now over 100 chapters in 30 countries). The same year she was awarded "Painter of the Year" by Amsterdam Gay News.Guru is known for her alternative "underground" life style, used to frequent fetish clubs, and has a penchant for transvestites. The subject matter of her work often features such subjects, including many paintings of men and women wearing 1960s style beehive wigs. Although the content is frequently unorthodox, she paints in a "traditional" painterly style, and states that she prefers the National Gallery to Tate Modern.

In 2004, she was one of the fourteen "founder and featured" artists in "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" held at the Walker Art Gallery for the Liverpool Biennial. [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/ "The Stuckists Punk Victorian"] , Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 6 April 2008.] In 2006, she was one of the ten "leading Stuckists" [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Slideshow/slideshowContentFrameFragXL.jhtml?xml=/arts/slideshows/gowest/pixgowest.xml&site= "Go West"] , "The Daily Telegraph". Retrieved 29 March 2008.] in the Go West exhibition at Spectrum London gallery.

Notes and references

ources

* Ed. Katherine Evans (2000), "The Stuckists" Victoria Press, ISBN 0-907165-27-3
* Ed. Frank Milner (2004), "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" National Museums Liverpool, ISBN 1-902700-27-9

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.ellaguru.org.uk Ella Guru web site]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/guru/index.html Some Ella Guru paintings]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/ Stuckism web site]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/v/voodooqueens/ Voodoo Queens on the Peel sessions, BBC]
* [http://www.myartspace.com/interviews/interviews/art-space-talk-ella-guru.html Ella Guru interviewed by Brian Sherwin- myartspace.com]