Design and Art Australia Online

Sydney-based painter and sculptor Charles Billich is known for his cityscapes, portraits and sports subjects (Ferraro, 2008) rendered in drawings, paintings, or sculptures made of precious and semi-precious metals (Wenjie, 2004). He travelled often between Sydney, Lovran (Croatia) and Beijing to observe cityscapes and gather inspiration for artworks, however his studio and commercial art gallery were based in Sydney. Billich was the recipient of the Sport Artist of the Year Award in 2000 (ASAMA, 2009).

Born in 1934 in Lovran, Istria, Billich was educated at the Classic Lyceum. On leaving school, he studied humanities at the Scientific College of Rijeka, where he also attended his first drawing lessons. It was during this time that he worked as a journalist engaged in anti-Yugoslavian government activities, leading to his arrest and imprisonment in 1952. After his release from prison in Maribor in 1954, Billich escaped to Austria to seek political asylum. He furthered his studies in painting at the Volkshochschule (Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts) in Salzburg for two years (Billich, 2000). In 1956 he immigrated to Australia and was enrolled at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Billich also studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School (Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne), where he was exposed to Socratic teaching methods (ASAMA, 2009). The following year, Billich moved to Sydney, stating, “As a painter, Sydney has lots of inspiration for me. It’s a world city; it’s exciting; it’s in-your-face; it encapsulates the best of modern civilisation and culture; and has much natural beauty” (Billich, cited in Vernay, 2010).

Billich’s painting Beijing Cityscape was the official image used by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. With the success of the Beijing bid, Billich produced a series of artworks based on the Bing Ma Yong terracotta warriors (Vernay, 2010).

The artist’s work encompasses many subjects, including architecture and cityscapes, portraiture, sport and movement, humanitarian pieces, works of religious significance, tragic events (some biographic), celebrations and historic personalities. As this last theme suggests, Billich was fascinated with distant pasts and myths. His speculations on the past, particularly on Chinese history, led him to animate archaeological finds to create visually complex images of life thousands of years ago (Charlton, 2004).

Billich’s art also embraces a variety of styles ranging from impressionistic to photo-realistic and surrealistic. Billich believed that this latter style best accounted for his work, explaining, “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 hum[o]ur” (Wenjie, 2004). However, he also called his art “Impressivism” as he was concerned with the celebration of cities and sports, particularly Olympic events, and with the creation of lasting impressions and emotions (Billich, cited in Ferraro, 2008).

Billich was appointed an Honorary Citizen of Atlanta and received the Key to the City during the Centennial Games in 2000. The same year, he was awarded the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) Sport Artist of the Year, while in 2009 he shared with eight other artists the 5th Premio Pittura award from the Florence Biennale.

Writers:

Monika Devcic

Date written:

2010

Last updated:

2010