Gema Alava  Gema Alava (b. 1973 Madrid, Spain) is an artist who lives and works in New York City. Her work, in the form of installation, drawing, photography and art projects, deals with what she calls "contradictory truths", and the capacity to "create a maximum by reversing a minimum." Álava's art projects, in the form of dialogues, verbal descriptions, rumors and random encounters, explore notions of trust and intimacy, and use language as a medium to investigate the interconnections that exist between public, private, educational and interpretative aspects of art." In 2012 she was appointed Cultural Adviser to the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations, (WCPUN). She has received a M.F.A.( New Genres) from the San Francisco Art Institute, a M.F.A (Painting) from the Academy of Art University, a B.F.A (Painting) from the Facultad de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Universidad Complutense and the Chelsea College of Art and Design, The London Institute, and holds a BA in Art Education from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 1995 she was awarded second prize in Spain's National Drawing Competition, Premio Penagos , being the youngest artist and first woman to achieve such recognition. That same year she received an Erasmus Grant for an Erasmus Programme. In 1997 she obtained a Fellowship for postgraduate studies in the United States from La Caixa Foundation. In 2002 she participated simultaneously in the Emerge Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, and the AIM Program at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, New Jersey. In 2011 she was awarded a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant. Alava's work has been exhibited and presented internationally, including the Rana Museum in Norway; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Queens Museum of Art, New York; the Margulies Art Collection at the Warehouse, Miami; the Juan Carlos I Center at New York University; the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; the United Nations Building, New York, and Manifesta 8, The European Biennial. Her first solo show in NYC was at Lance Fung Gallery. Participants of Alava's art projects include Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Angela Bulloch, Alison Knowles, Eduardo Lago, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ester Partegas, Robert Ryman, Jason Schmidt (photographer), Merrill Wagner and Lawrence Weiner.