Ella Guru (born May 24, 1966) is an American painter and musician living in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England. She was a member of

Mambo Taxi Mambo Taxi were an English, London-based British indie band, linked with riot grrrl, who formed in 1991 and split up in 1995.Mason, StewartMambo Taxi Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-02-01 History Mambo Taxi were inspired by the UK garage ...

and the

Voodoo Queens The Voodoo Queens were a North London-based indie punk/riot grrrl band, who reached number one in the Indie Charts in 1993. History The band was composed of Anjali Bhatia (guitar, vocals), Ella Guru (guitar, backing vocals), Stefania 'Steffi ...

. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the

Stuckist Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

.Buckman, David (2006), ''Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945'', p.653, Art Dictionaries, Bristol, 2006, She did a commercial art course at Fort Hayes Career Center (1982–84) and attended Columbus College of Art and Design (1984–86), which she left because of "all the conceptual crap".Milner, Frank ed. (2004), ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p.68,

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

, . See also excerpt on National Museums Liverpool web sit

/ref> She graduated in fine arts from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

(1988–89), where she received the Visual Arts Award.

Career

From 1990 to 1991, Guru worked as a go-go dancer and stripper, and travelled to Africa and India, then for the next year lived an Islamic lifestyle in an Algerian household in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

, London, where she was a waitress in a Mexican restaurant. She has lived in London since this time. In 1996, she rode a bicycle to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, and met Sexton Ming in London, after borrowing his lipstick. In 1997, she worked as a web site designer. In 2001, she married Ming on a Dorset cliff top; they wore drag. Her daughter Lucy was born in 2004. She has been an habituée of fetish clubs, where she used to spank men, whom she terms "Tory politicians". She had lunch in New York with

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...

, who said she was "weird". Guru's pseudonym is taken from a

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

song on the album ''

Trout Mask Replica ''Trout Mask Replica'' is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) and arrange ...

''.

Music

In the early 1990s, Guru was a guitarist in the London-based British band,

, linked with

Riot Grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcul ...

. The inspiration for the band came from UK garage rock and US punk, and their sound was a mixture of garage, punk, and pop. The name was a reference to the Mambo Taxi used by the heroine of the film, ''

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' ( es, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film brought Almodóvar to ...

''. Guru in an interview with NME’s Sam Stallard in 1992, said the name was "tacky", and "with all sorts of different things in it that sort of clash, but everything’s useful as well as fun." In late 1992, drummer Anjali Bhatia left Mambo Taxi to start the

, along with Guru and others.Strong, Martin C. (2003). "Voodoo Queens", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, . After their first concert, they were offered a

Peel session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

by BBC DJ,

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

. This was recorded in January 1993. Other radio and TV appearances followed, including a further two Peel Sessions, and a

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

competition against

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

on Channel 4's music and arts programme ''Naked City''. The group reached number one in the Indie chart in 1993. Guru was replaced on bass guitar in 1994. She has played in The Deptford Beach Babes, and also with her partner, Sexton Ming, in his band, The Tasty Ones.

Stuckism

Guru started painting seriously again in 1997. In 1999, she was one of the thirteen founder members of the pro-figurative painting

Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...

and pro-

figurative painting Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract ...

art movement founded by

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

and

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

."Glossary: Stuckism"

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. Retrieved 16 September 2009. She started the Stuckist web site, stuckism.com: Thomson, Charles, "A Stuckist on Stuckism" in: Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p.7,

2004, . Essay available online a
stuckism.com
2000 Stuckist Turner demo (2)

Thomson said that most of the Stuckist groups made their first contact through the site and that Stuckism was "the first significant art movement to spread via the Internet." Thomson, Charles, "A Stuckist on Stuckism" in: Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p.9,

2004, . Essay available online a
stuckism.com
In 2000, she took part in the first Stuckist demonstration against the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

, and has done so in later years also. In 2004, she was one of the fourteen artists in the "founder and featured" section of '' The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' show held at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

for the

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

."The Stuckists Punk Victorian"

. Retrieved 6 April 2008. In 2006, she was one of the ten "leading Stuckists" in the Go West exhibition at

Spectrum London Spectrum London was a London art gallery which showed contemporary figurative painting, photography and sculpture. It staged '' Go West'', the first commercial West End show of the Stuckists, and a retrospective by Sebastian Horsley. It closed ...

gallery.

Painting

Guru has stated her concern for ability and technique, and her admiration for the work of

Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

s, although they are not necessarily her model for painting: she also appreciates untrained artists who show invention in their work. She spent three years painting life models at art college, which gave her much of the grounding for her approach to art. Her paintings take anywhere between two days and two years to complete, and usually start by her "going out and getting pissed with my friends", when she takes the photographs which provide the initial ideas, although the images she works from are often "very bad, dark, fuzzy photos", necessitating subsequent real life studies as well as imaginative interpretation. The initial layout is done with a line drawing, but the aim is to achieve a finished result where the subject appears three-dimensional. She has talked about an irrational obsession with shapes, such as those of wigs, which have always fascinated her. Her painting ''The Queen's Speech'' had its origin in Pennsylvania in the house of a friend, with whom Guru has collaborated for a number of years in setting up suitable scenes for photographs by dressing people in costume. This particular scene, showing Guru's husband, Sexton Ming, was the friend's idea. A photograph was the starting point for the painting, which was not started until Guru's return to London, but it was augmented by life studies and also the addition of extra items, such as the bottle of

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of '' Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historica ...

Honors

*Painter of the Year 2000, Amsterdam Gay News *Real Turner Prize 2002, joint winner. * "Album cover of the Year" Pure Rawk Awards 2015, for the Urban Voodoo Machine album cover "Love, Drink and Death."

Gallery

Some paintings by Ella Guru. Image:Ella Guru, Bishi.jpg, ''Bishi'' Image:Ella Guru, Female Wrestlers.jpg, ''Female Wrestlers'' Image:Ella Guru, Goodbye Columbus.jpg, ''Goodbye Columbus'' Image:Ella Guru, The Forcibly Bewitched.jpg, ''The Forcibly Bewitched'' Image:Ella Guru, Fan and Snake.jpg, ''Fan and Snake'' Image:Ella Guru, Snake 4.jpg, ''Snake 4'' Image:Ella Guru, Quentin Crisp.jpg, ''

'' Image:Grayson Perry by Ella Guru.jpg, ''

Grayson Perry Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "pre ...

'' File:Ella Guru, The Bride.jpg, ''The Bride'' File:Ella Guru, Sexton Ming with Face Pack.jpg, ''Sexton Ming with Face Pack''

References

External links

*
Ella Guru on the Stuckist web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guru, Ella 1966 births Living people Modern painters American women painters Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Stuckism Women punk rock singers American indie rock musicians American punk rock singers American punk rock guitarists American expatriates in England Painters from Ohio 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American women guitarists