104 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 26 cm. #0121 First Edition. 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.

ISBN 10: 0731627776 ISBN 13: 9780731627776 Gurvich