Ari Alpert was born in Manhattan, NY, in 1975. After spending his childhood in New York, London and Istanbul, he studied fine arts at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He worked in the fields of photography, ceramics, sculpture and jewellery design. He later focused on engraving, etching, lithography and printing, and especially the use of materials like Komatex and linoleum.
After settling in Turkey in 2000, he set up his own silkscreen printing workshop. Influenced by Shepard Fairey’s OBEY, he spearheaded the collective art movement, Osman, introducing fresh dynamism to Istanbul’s contemporary art circles with new media and approaches. From Istanbul to Berlin and from Copenhagen to Miami, he took a central place in happenings that brought music and art together.
In later years, he organized stencil and etching workshops to share his know-how with the artists of the future. With his prints, stencils, etchings and murals, he has taken part in many exhibitions, biennials and artistic projects in both Turkey and abroad.
Focusing on engraving, etching and lithography Ari Alpert draws strength from the idea of multiplying a main image produced in mixed media. This democratic, collective and rebellious approach rooted in pop-art and street art lies at the core of Alpert’s artistic identity.
Alpert casts away the institutionalized artistic tradition of the idolized artist, where the image dictates the message, instead following a path where the image is liberated and as the artist, he can create his own story. In his style of work, where the image is multiplied manually through print, the artist becomes anonymous, and the work takes on new meanings with every passing day. The artist also focuses on the chaos at the heart of contemporary life, exposing the conflict in human nature with his dynamic, humorous and unique visuality.