uri shapira Biography

Born in 1980, ISRAEL • Lives and works in Tel Aviv • Email: URISHAPIRA5@GMAIL.COM • Web: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urishapira

EDUCATION

• 2008 • BFA, Ceramics and glass design, "Bezalel" Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, IL

AWARDS, GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS

• 2011 • "ESSIE" award, "Gallore" gallery, Middletown, CT, U.S. • 2008 • America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship • 2007 • America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship • 2007 • "Polanski" excellence scholarship for "Pilchuck" Glass School, WA, U.S.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION

• 2011 • "METALofonas/Vilnius - First Biennale of the Art of metal", LAA gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania • 2011 • "Vessel Project", Stonehouse, Plymouth, UK • 2011 • "First house", "The Station Complex", TLV, IL • 2011 • "Hubris of Passion", "Horace Richter" gallery, Jaffa, IL • 2011 • "Summer Showcase", "Gallore" gallery, Middletown, CT, U.S. • 2011 • "Foto8 Summershow", "Host" gallery, London, UK • 2011 • "Artists' Greenhouse", "Fresh Paint 4- contemporary art fair", The Botanic Gardens, TLV, IL • 2010 • "Secret Art 5", "Many" house, TLV, IL • 2010 • "Izvuv", "Hahava" Gallery, Holon, IL • 2009 • "Hisardut bahava", "Hahava" Gallery, Holon, IL • 2008 • "NEO", "Ganey Hataruha", TLV, IL • 2008 • Graduate exhibition, The Department of Ceramics and Glass Design, "Bezalel", Jerusalem, IL • 2006 • "Terminal 1 Bezalel 100 years", "Ben-Gurion" international airport, IL

VIDEO SCREENINGS & ART EVENTS

• 2011 • "OK. Video – 5th Jakarta International Video Festival", National gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia • 2010 • "Pacha kucha 10", Lecture, "Hangar 11", TLV, IL

PUBLICATIONS & CATALOGS

• 2011 • "Best of Photography 2011", Book, "Photographer's Forum", CA, U.S. • 2011 • "Foto8 Summershow", Catalog, "Host" gallery, London, UK • 2010 • "Fresh Paint 4", Catalog, "Fresh Paint- contemporary art fair", TLV, IL • 2010 • "Secret Art 5", Catalog, "Bank Leumi", TLV, IL • 2008 • "Artic 10", Catalog, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, TLV, IL

Artist's Statement

Collective project "Environments of aesthetics" is a doco-photographic glimpse into frozen brief moments, chosen within a fleeting visuality: home experiments in creating domesticated environments, based on active metal vegetation and chemicals growth. Inventing these alternative sceneries relies on a background research, invisible to the viewer, in which the artist explores the most fundamental behavior of the inanimate matter over the timeline; guides it to act visually as if it was a growing plant, in order to create dynamic aesthetics. Once activated, these aesthetics are passively observed while self formation process naturally occurs. Dialoguing with the brisk matter, changes day by day, destabilizes the artist's exclusive control over the creation, summoning unpredictable possibilities. Through exploration of trial and error the artist has mastered a diverse pallet of growth species, each of whom functions as an independent ecological environment, acts by its own typical logic system, timetable, and appearance. Information hidden from bare eyes is magnified & revealed using macro photography, and digital stitching of dozens camera frames into high resolution discovery images.