MARIE KHOURI

ARTWORK

BIOGRAPHY

Vancouver-based sculptor, Marie Khouri, represents the broad multi cultural and diverse demographic of Western Canada. Born in Egypt and raised in Lebanon, Khouri has developed a vast range of cultural and historical influences within her practice. With a childhood interrupted during the Lebanese Civil War, Khouri was relocated to Spain, Italy and Canada, finally settling in Paris where she was classically trained in sculpture at l’École du Louvre. On her return to Vancouver, a retrospective of her life took form in her sculpture, reflecting a passion for innovation and spontaneity. 

Khouri’s work resides at the often-tenuous place between art and design, with a close integration of form and function, reminiscent of modernist thinking best epitomized by the Bauhaus School. Despite their formalist impulses, the sculptures she creates are not without feeling. Greatly influenced by Henry Moore’s idea of direct carving, Marie Khouri’s sculptures blend and extend metaphors of language, form and the body to propose an inextricable link - both political and personal - to a life deeply affected by the complex histories of the Middle East. It is from these histories that her most evocative works emerge, rooted in a profound sense of dislocation and the search for a greater sense of place. Each sculpture is formed through an extensive hands-on process that employs traditional sculpting techniques alongside contemporary innovations in material and building standards. Her timeless and unconstrained forms remain firmly situated in the contemporary moment, pushing the barriers of the medium where the surfaces reveal the entire process and the finished sculpture reveals the evolutionary method by which it was created.

EXHIBITIONS

PAST EXHIBITIONS

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2018   BRONZE, Solo Show, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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           Collective Design Fair, Chahan Gallery, NYC, USA

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2017   Splash, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, Canada

2016   Major Works, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
       
          You and I, TED Conference DREAM, February 15 - 19, Vancouver, Canada

2015   London Design Week, Canada House in England Exhibit, London, England

           You and I, Harmony Arts Festival, Organized by the West Vancouver Museum, Canada

           FOG Design + Art, represented by Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA

           Splash, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, Canada

2014   Let’s Sit and Talk, Solo Show, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           IDS West, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2013   Wearable Sculptures, Amusingold Show, Milan, Italy

           Safar/Voyage, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           Le Jardin en Reflets, Chahan Minassian for AD Interieurs, Paris, France

2012   ICFF, New York City, USA

           Pavilion Art and Design, Paris, France

           EDC London Minotti Design, London, England

           Compagnie Française de l’Orient et de la Chine, Paris, France

2011   ICFF, New York City, USA

           Design Week Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

           IDS West, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           Histoire d’O, Canada Line Public Art Program, Olympic Station, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           The White Show, Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2010   IDS West, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2009   Le Banc, Canada Line Public Art Program, Olympic Station, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           Solo Show, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           IDS West, Vancouver, BC, Canada

           Private Show, Seattle, WA, USA

2008   Splash, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, Canada

           Artists in our Midst, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2007   Un Arca Cultural, Mexico City, Mexico

           Un Arca Cultural Michoacan, Mexico

           Artists in our Midst, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2006   Salon D’Automne, Paris, France

2005   Salon D’Automne, Paris, France

2004   Salon D’Automne, Paris, France

           Salon de l’Hotel de Ville, Paris, France

           Espace du Louvre, Paris, France

           Artcurial, Paris, France

AWARDS & TALKS

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2018   UDI Award for Excellence - Public Art Winner - Eyes On The Street, by Concert Properties

2018   Sam Sullivan’s Public Salon, Vancouver, BC

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2017   Artist Lecture Series, Liquidity Gallery, Okanagan Falls, BC 

2014   Carter Wosk BC Creative Achievement Award - Recipient Furniture Design Award

2012   Western Living Design Award - Industrial Design Winner

2012   Western Living Design Award - Fashion Design Winner

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2009   PechaKucha, Volume Seven, Vancouver, BC

CONTACT

 MARIE KHOURI STUDIO