Ella Guru (born Ella Drauglis; May 24, 1966) is an American painter and musician living in Hastings, East Sussex, England. She was a member of Mambo Taxi and the Voodoo Queens. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the Stuckist art movement.

Early life and education

Guru (birth name Ella Drauglis) was born in the U.S. state of Ohio. 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". She graduated in fine arts from Ohio State University (1988–89), where she received the Visual Arts Award. 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. 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 Voodoo Queens, along with Guru and others. After their first concert, they were offered a Peel session by BBC DJ, John Peel. This was recorded in January 1993. Other radio and TV appearances followed, including a further two Peel Sessions, and a busking competition against Boyzone on Channel 4's music and arts programme Naked City. The group reached number one in the Indie chart in 1993.

Stuckism

thumb|Ella Guru is interviewed by [[Richard Quest of CNN International during Go West at Spectrum London gallery, October 2006]]

Guru started painting seriously again in 1997. of the pro-figurative painting Stuckists, an anti-conceptual art and pro-figurative painting art movement founded by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish. She started the Stuckist web site, stuckism.com:

thumb|upright|left|Ella Guru (left) [[Stuckist demonstrations|demonstrates against the Turner Prize, 2000.]]

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." In 2000, she took part in the first Stuckist demonstration against the Turner Prize at Tate Britain, 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 for the Liverpool Biennial. In 2006, she was one of the ten "leading Stuckists" in the Go West exhibition at Spectrum London gallery.

Painting

thumb|Ella Guru. The Queen's Speech.

Guru has stated her concern for ability and technique, and her admiration for the work of Old Masters, although they are not necessarily her model for painting: she also appreciates untrained artists who show invention in their work.

  • "Album cover of the Year" Pure Rawk Awards 2015, for the Urban Voodoo Machine album cover "Love, Drink and Death."

Some paintings by Ella Guru.

<gallery>

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|Quentin Crisp

Image:Grayson Perry by Ella Guru.jpg|Grayson Perry

File:Ella Guru, The Bride.jpg|The Bride

File:Ella Guru, Sexton Ming with Face Pack.jpg|Sexton Ming with Face Pack

</gallery>

References

Further reading

  • Ella Guru on the Stuckist web site
  • Ella Guru on the first Stuckist Turner Prize demonstration