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Guillaume Bijl (born 1946 in Antwerp), is a Belgian installation artist.
Early life and education
Bijl was born in Antwerp in 1946 in a working class family. The artist's father worked at the local docks and his mother worked for the Bell Telephone Company. A self-taught artist, Bijl came to art as an outsider initially making paintings during the 1960s. During this time, he mimicked numerous artistic movements such as Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, abstract movements and more. During a period of self-guided studies in economics, Bijl worked at a bank in Brussels. Shortly thereafter his parents sent him to a local vocational trade school in the hopes of gaining professional skills. For nearly a decade, Bijl worked part-time in the art section of a bookstore in Antwerp. In the late 1960's, he studied theater and film at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema, and Sound in Brussels before dropping out after only a year. Bijl only then devoted himself to art making full-time in his mid-30s.[1]
Work
From the second half of the 1970s he started to create spatial objects and was researching in finding alternatives for conceptual art. Bijl's first installation was a driving school, set in a gallery-space in Antwerp in 1979, accompanied by a manifesto calling for the abolition of art centres, and replacing them with 'socially useful institutions'. This installation was followed in the eighties by a billiards room, a casino, a laundromat, a centre for professional training, a psychiatric hospital, a fallout shelter, a show of fictitious American artists, a conference for a new political party and a rural Belgian model house. A more recent show was at the Berlin’s Center for Opinions in Music and Art.[2] Bijl has been reviewed by the New York Times.[3] He divides his work into four categories: 'Transformation Installations', 'Situation Installations', 'Compositions Trouvées' and 'Sorrys'.[1]
Solo Exhibitions
Here is a selection of Solo exhibitions:[4]
- 2012: Cultuurcentrum Mechelen
- 2012: Etablisssement d’en face, Brussels
- 2011: Arnolfini
- 2008: SMAK
- 2001: Städtische galerie Nordhorn
- 1998: Kunsthalle Reklinghausen
- 1998: Neue Galerie Graz
- 1997: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
- 1996: Kunstverein Hannover
- 1996: Muhka
- 1994: Middelheim Open Air Sculpture Museum
- 1993: Wiener Secession
- 1990: Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art
- 1989: New Museum
- 1989: Le Magasin
- 1988: Venice Biennale, Belgium Pavilion
- 1988: Kunstverein Kassel
- 1986: Kunstverein Keulen
- 1985: Stedelijk Museum
- 1984: SMAK
- 1984: Art Basel
- 1979: Galerij Z, Antwerp
Group Exhibitions
Guillaume Bijl's work has been featured in significant groupshows and biennials, including the Documenta IX (1992), Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007), Busan Biennale (2006), Scape Biennale (2008), Lyon Biennale (2011), Istanbul Biennale (2013) and MANIFESTA 11 (2016) [5].
Public collections
Bijl's piece titled Behandlingen (1975-1979) resides in the collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp. The artist has work collected at Centre Pompidou and Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent, MUMOK in Vienna, the Goldberg Collection in New York, and more.[1]
References
- ^ a b c C.,, Welchman, John. Jumps of the cat : Guillaume Bijl's simulation therapy. Dirié, Clément,, Leemans, Koen,, Cultuurcentrum Mechelen,. Zurich. ISBN 9783037644683. OCLC 965382483.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Guillaume Bijl. Frieze Magazine,
Daniel Miller, 03/03/09. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Review/Art; A Conceptual Installation With Luxury for All. By Michael Brenson. December 21, 1990. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/21/arts/review-art-a-conceptual-installation-with-luxury-for-all.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
- ^ http://hisk.edu/mw/index.php/Guillaume_Bijl
- ^ http://www.lespressesdureel.com/ouvrage.php?id=4835