Ivan Alifan | Award-Winning Artist & Oil Painter

American Conceptualist

Ivan Alifan

Ivan specializes on the human figure creating an evocative mood through his use of a limited color palette.

Ivan's greatest passion is art, because "it allows the artist to create the impossible...". Thus, he continues to create a world of possibilities. Ivan graduated from OCAD University in 2012 with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting. He participated in the Hermitage Museum residency in St. Petersburg Russian and was part of OCAD U's Off-Campus studies program, studying abroad in Florence, Italy. It is through these experiences where he developed his signature style.

"It's Not Milk" series

This series is an exploration of the modern gaze; of ambiguous figurative paintings that are revealed and transformed within the act of the individuals' views. These portraits are not an attempt to render physical characteristics but rather create a language of underlying sexual subtexts. Using ambiguity as a tool demands the viewer's exploration of their psyches and provokes self awareness. To have a painting that can exist as an alluring object and shift into an eroticized figure disarms and naturalizes the modern gaze; decriminalizing sex in art. Whether an individual sexualizes the figure, or becomes embarrassed and nervous by the mere suggestion, this is all a process which occurs independently from the painting. Breaking down barriers of the different modes in which the body can exist in social spheres and contemporary art.

Art is beyond an image of perception and creativity. Art is part of the past, present, future, where one can interpret their own view. Painting allows me as an artist to express my strengths or my vulnerability. Each brushstroke builds up a story, a life and, a passion. I hope my paintings will change your outlook on life...

Ivan Alifan

Award-Winning Artist & Oil Painter

Owning a piece of art is beyond the physical canvas itself, but owning a piece of time.

Awards, Accomplishments & Publications

- Bliss Magazine
- Le Petit Voyer issue 3
- Paintguide vol 1
- ELLE Canada Magazine
- New American Paintings issue 110
- Mercedes Benz Financial Services Award
- "Untapped" Immerging Artist Project Award
- Nora E. Vaughan Award
- OCADU Grad Ex Gold Medal Award Winner
- Hermitage Museum grant workshop in St.Petersburg Russia.

Ivan had personal exhibitions in New York, London, Toronto, Miami, Florence and St. Petersburg.

2017

- “Girls Of Summer” Allouche gallery , NYC, Jully

- “Sweet Tooth” Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, September

2016

- “Avant Art” The Unit Gallery, London, UK, Dec

- “Artists of the now” Allouche Gallery, New York , Jan

- “Liquid group show” Liquid Gallery , Art pier 94 New York, May

- “Sweets” Galerie LeRoyer , Montreal , Canada, June

- “Collectives” Joseph Gross Gallery , New York , Feb

2015

- "New Blood", The Unit Gallery, London, UK , April

- “Paint Guide” The Unit Gallery, London, UK, May

- “Unveiled” Galerie LeRoyer , Montreal , Canada, August

2014

- Group show ,Youn, Quebec, CA, December

- Internation Art Fair Toronto,Canada, October

- "Stranger than Fiction" Jonathen Levine Gallery, New York , August

- "The anniversary" , The Unit Gallery, London, UK, August

- "7 Sins", The Unit Gallery, London, UK

2013

- Face to Face, Edwards Day Gallery, Toronto, ON

- Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, ON

- Artist Project, Toronto , February

- Annual Graduate Exhibition, OCADU, Toronto, ON

2012

- Red-Dot Miami Art Show

- Hermitage Museum student show, St. Petersburg Russia

- Art Expo, Toronto, April

- Art Expo, New York, March

- Bronze Frog Gallery, Oakville, November

2011

- OCAD University Florence Campus, "Vestiges". Florence, Italy

- Art Expo, New York, March

- Bronze Frog Gallery, Oakville, November