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Sydney /Glas Slovenije-Stanka Gregoriè, Millennium Almanac
2000, Charles Billich/ - In March this year we, the Glas Slovenije Team,
had an interview with the Artist Charles Billich from Sydney, the Official
Artist for the Australian Olympic Team at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad.
We spent few hours in his Gallery and at his working Studio. Mr. Billich
was very generous and he let us film his paintings and himself at work.
THE PAST
Charles Billich was born in Lovran - Croatia on the sixth of
September 1934, when Istria was Italian and part of the Venice. At home
they spoke Venetian, Italian, Croatian and German. He was a student dancer
with the opera corp de ballet in Rijeka, where he went to college. He also
wrote satirical articles for a local Italian-language magazine, and for
doing so was sentenced to ten year’s imprisonment by a repressive Communist
regime. It was 1952. A Slovenian Communist court dealt him ten years of
political Gulag. The time he spent in prison, ignoring incidentals such
as starvation, chill-bite and sadism, was very useful. He met many intellectuals
who were political lifers. They had status and certain liberties and could
obtain books from the outside. They delighted teaching him languages, art
history and many practical skills. As Maribor jail was a vast penitentiary
and contained its own theatre, he had the opportunity of learning about
set design. He soon became designer in charge and sure enough there are
still histrionic traces to his work, lots of them!
Two years into his imprisonment he was unexpectedly released. He at
once sought political asylum in Austria where he studied art in Salzburg.
After he migrated to Australia in 1956 he studied at the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology and the National Gallery School of Victoria,
surviving with every imaginable job until he could support himself as an
artist.
TODAY
Today Billich’s editions and originals adorn boardrooms, galleries
and collection across five continents. Billich has exhibited at some of
the world’s best venues; he is the recipient of many prizes, including
the coveted Spoleto Prize in Italy. He has been an honoured guest and resident
artist on many occasions and he continues to travel the world to fulfil
his numerous commissions and project. In few weeks time the French will
make a documentary of Bilich’s “Cityscapes”. In America recently he was
appointed as Sports Artist of the Year for 2000, a coveted title with a
20 year tradition, conferred by the United States Sports Academy.
Two years ago he completed series of “Bleiburg” paintings.
CALENDAR
For this year Charles Billich introduced a quiet unusual
Calendar “Millennium Almanac 2000”:
- 366 reproductions of paintings, drawings and sketches, past and recent
from his studios in Australia, Monaco and Croatia
- 366 thoughts, heresies, metaphores, unsolicited pieces of advice,
confidences, confessions, platitudes and wise-sounding banalities
-366 days in the life of an artist that you can share hour by hour,
day in day out, millennium in millenium out, if you, like him, want to
disclaim any allegations of total sanity...
Recent appointments
Resident Artist National Gallery, Zagreb, 1992/1994
Sesqui (150th Anniversary) Artist for the City of Sydney, 1992
Artist to Spring Racing Carnival, Melbourne, 1992,1993
Resident Artist Queen Elizabeth 2, Cunard Lines, 1995
Guest Artist, The Chinese Artists Association, China, 1995
Commemorative Centenary Painting, Australia Football League, 1996
Official Artist to the 1996 Formula 1 Grand Prix, Melbourne
Official Artist for the Australian Olympic Team Sydney 2000
Collections
The Vatican Collection, Rome
Australian Olympic Committee Headquarters, Sydney
Selangor Turf Club Equestrian and Sports Centre, Kuala Lumpur
The Parliament of Japan
Australian Embassy, Germany
City of Kanagawa, Japan
Brisbane Convention Centre
City of Melbourne
Embassy of Croatia, Canberra
New York State Govt Port Authority
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Collection of Thailand
Central Queensland University, Rockhampton
The City of Sydney
President Samaranch IOC Lausanne
The Parliament of Victoria
Australian Embassy, Japan
Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery
City of Rijeka, Croatia
City of Dusseldorf, Germany
Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery
Rockhampton Gallery, Qld
The City of Hakodate, Japan
The City of Osaca, Japan
Art Bank, Commonwealth of Australia
United States Sports Academy
Over time art, and the craft of art, show very few novelties in real
terms. And out of the tens of thousands of artists turned out every year,
there is hardly a genius.
Charles Billich
Charles Billich Gallery:
100 George Street Sydney
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