Dr. Charles Billich
Dr. Charles Billich paints from what he sees around him. He describes his work as surrealist. "I manipulate reality. I turn it into some kind of symbolic analysis which works on several levels of meaning. There is a touch of irony in what I paint as there is in all surreal art. It contains a fair amount of humor".
A master craftsman, Billich has the extraordinary skill and understanding to virtually dissect an animal or a human being, to create a sense of weight where it is needed and a feeling of weightlessness where it is called for. He penetrates the personality of his subjects; he imbues them with spirit, individuality and expression.
From the majesty of his cityscapes to the sensuality of his figuratives, to the speed and movement of his world famous sports works, the work of Dr. Charles Billich will leave you breathless. He is truly an artist of vision and excellence, and has received many honors.
"It's daunting to hang with the greatest names in Art. The Vatican Collection is that close to an artist's heaven, you can't get higher," said Charles when he received notification that his work had been hung in the Vatican.
With a painting career spanning some forty years, Billich's art has been shaped by personal experience. As a teenager, Billich was a student dancer with the Opera Corp de Ballet in Rijeka, where he attended college.
He also wrote satirical articles for a local Italian-language magazine. For doing so, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a repressive Communist regime. The physical and psychological privations were eased for him by other older inmates, political prisoners who were mentors to his own intellectual and artistic growth. He read and studied languages and he designed sets for prison plays. Two years into his imprisonment he was unexpectedly released.
He at once sought political asylum in Austria where he studied art at the Volkshochschule in Salzburg. After he migrated to Australia in 1956, he studied at the Melbourne Institute of Technology and the National Gallery School of Victoria, surviving with every imaginable job until he could support himself as an artist.
Australia's lack of an entrenched European artistic tradition, and its readiness to experiment, has spurred his own artistic growth. He explores themes reflecting his own obsessions, fantasies and thwarted ambitions; ballet and sport, architecture and town planning, eroticism and classicism, portraiture and stage.
Today, Billich editions and originals adorn boardrooms, galleries and collections across five continents. Charles Billich has exhibited at some of the world's most renowned venues; he is the recipient of many prizes, including the coveted Spoleto Prize in Italy. He has been an honored guest and resident artist on many occasions and he continues to travel the world to fulfill his numerous commissions and projects.
Billich prides himself on being "in touch with my people". He abhors elitism and any form of hypocritical pretension in the arts. He challenges the norm: "I try to convey spiritual optimism and vitality; visual utopias" he says. "I want people to look higher, as much for their own sake as for the sake of the community."
Selected Recent Exhibitions:
2005 St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt Sydney, AustraliaMelbourne Hilton Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
2004 United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA
Australian Catholic University
The Westin Hotel Shanghai
Selected Recent Awards:
2004 77TH Shaolin Monk, Henan China1989 Milan & Spoleto Award, Italy
1988 Victorian Heritage & Cultural Award
1996 Centennial Olympic City, USA
Selected Recent Appointments:
2004-5 Official Artist Carnivale Christi 2004/20052005 Artist, Mercedes Australian Fashion Week
2004 Artistic Patron Sydney Polo Club
2001, 2005 Official Artist Australia Day Regatta
Trustee United States Sports Academy
Patron New South Wales Chin Woo Athletics Association
2004 Official Artist Sydney Greek Festival
2003 An official artist, Rugby World Cup
2002 Official artist for East Timor Independence Day
2002-3 Artist for United States Olympic Committee
1999-2000 Artist Beijing Olympic Bid
2000 Sports Artist of the Year
Selected Recent Collections:
The Vatican Collection, RomeUnited Nations, Geneva
Art Bank, Commonwealth of Australia
International Red Cross Museum, Geneva
International Olympic Museum, Lausanne
Museum of Modern Art Mobile, Alabama
City of Düsseldorf, Germany
Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery
The Parliament of Victoria
Australian Embassy to Germany
Australian Embassy to Croatia
Hall of Congress, Washington D.C.
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