CURRENT EXHIBITION Annual Winter Group Show PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS White Slate Out of the Green Shifting Season In Contrast Gallery Artists'07 Old World New World Gallery Artists'06 BIOGRAPHY Ilya Gefter was born in St. Petersburg , Russia in 1980, and lives in Canada since 1995. Ilya obtained his BFA with highest honors at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore , USA , where he was awarded a full tuition scholarship. In 2001, Ilya studied at the Studio Art Centres International in Florence on a John Hirsh Scholarship for the Arts . He resided in Florence and traveled across Italy to study and copy the paintings and frescos of the Italian Renaissance. In 2003 Ilya was honoured with a Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant , which enabled him to travel to Italy for the second time and to study under Israel Hershberg at the International School of Art in Montecastello. In addition to his training in the visual arts, Ilya studied philosophy at York University in Toronto , Ontario . Ilya was honoured with numerous awards that include the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant , David Jacobs Scholarship , Academic Excellence Scholarship, John Hirsch Scholarship for the Arts, Art Gallery of Ontario Volunteer Committee Bursary Award , and a York University Entrance Scholarship. As a part of his five solo and over 20 group exhibitions, Ilya's work has appeared in the Greater Toronto Area, Uxbridge, Port Perry, as well as in Baltimore , Maryland , in Jerusalem , Israel and in St. Petersburg , Russia . His pieces can be found in public and private collections in Canada , USA , Italy , Israel , Russia , and New Zealand . ARTIST STATEMENT During the summer time in Rome, afternoon light caresses the pilasters, stately colonnades, and deeply carved cornices, pitching plaster moldings and textures of battered marble into high relief.  Surfaces of buildings, ruins, and statues, break up into patches of saturated colors: oily yellows, burning oranges, and mellow violets.  Passing over the city, like a shadow gliding over the curves of a baroque façade, eyes gather more than the mind could ever contain. Although incapable of retaining what the eye sees, the consciousness remains charred by the beauty.  Etchings in the memory’s ache and grope for a form of release.   The essence of this pure visual experience is the beginning of my painting. Setting up to paint and squeezing oil colors onto a palette, I immediately aligns myself with the history of the medium of painting, a history of no lesser length and complexity than that of Rome itself.  The medium carries within itself the weight of its past.  It is the weight of a tradition that stretches from ancient Egyptians’ artifice to Pompeian frescos and well into the 20th century.  I embrace this weight.   For visual culture is invariably greater than individual talent, and the physical act of painting, at its very best, is a participation in this culture.  Painting from life, I not only grapple with the motif in front of me, but also with the long tradition behind.  The seductive uniqueness of the motif is to be merged with the principles of harmony and formal cohesiveness inherent in the medium.  This history of the medium informs the transcription of observed reality into the language of paint.  Thus, awareness of artistic tradition is carried into the experience of nature, and imparts context and meaning to the ungainly endeavor of painting outdoors on a busy thoroughfare in mid-July.  August 2007 Rome- Toronto CV Education 1999-2003       Maryland Institute, College of Art; Baltimore, USA. BFA Summa cum Laude 2004    Jerusalem Studio School; Jerusalem, Israel 2003    International School or Art; Montecastello, Italy 2001    Studio Art Centers International; Florence, Italy 1999    York University; Toronto, Ontario, Canada Solo Exibitions 2006 “Old World, New World”, Leonardo Gallery, Toronto, Canada(two-person Exhibitions) 2002 “Works on Paper”, Maryland Institute; Baltimore, USA 2002 “A Year in Italy”, Veni Vidi Gallery; Port Perry, Ontario, Canada 2001 “Encore”, Veni Vidi Gallery; Port Perry, Ontario, Canada 2000 “Works Thus Far”, Veni Vidi Gallery; Port Perry, Ontario, Canada Selected Group Exibitions 2007  Presences, Painters and Sculptors Association, Tel Aviv, Israel 2005  Had Gadya, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel 2004  Unusual Suspects, Gallery One; Toronto, Ontario 2004  Group Show, XEXE Gallery; Toronto, Ontario 2003  The Contemporary Landscape/Cityscape, Sheppard Art Gallery; Ellicott City, USA Teaching 2004/05 Jerusalem Studio School , Jerusalem , Israel . Continuing Studies Instructor Ginogli Center for the Arts, Jerusalem , Israel 2004 Magic Door Gallery; Sunderland , Ontario . Oil Painting Seminar Lectures 2007 Tradition of Representational Painting, Leonardo Galleries, Toronto, Ontario 2007 Gems on Paper, Jerusalem Studio School, Jerusalem, Israel 2006 The Origins of Portraiture; Tahana School for Figurative Art, Tel Aviv, Israel 2006 The Origins of Portraiture; Jerusalem Studio School, Jerusalem, Israel 2005Ancient Egyptian Portraiture; Jerusalem Studio School, Jerusalem, Israel 2003 Greek Painting; International School of Art, Montecastello di Vibio, Italy Selected Grants And Awards 2003  Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, E. Greenshields Foundation, Canada 2003,  01,99 John Hirsch Scholarship for the Arts; JIAS Canada 2000,  99 YTV Achievement Awards Finalist; YTV Canada 2000  Juror's Award of Merit; Annual York Region Juried Exhibition 1999  David Jacobs Full Tuition Scholarship; Maryland Institute, College of Art 1999  Academic Excellence Scholarship; Maryland Institute, College of Art   Public Collections Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada; Toronto, Ontario Heintzman House; Markham, Ontario   Private Collections Israel, USA, Canada, Italy, Russia, New Zealand