- Phil Billen
- Brief biographical notes
- Born in Brussels 21st February 1954.
- Studies at the Boitsfort Academy and at the Atelier 75 of Brussels.
- Exhibits in Helsingor (Denmark), Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Amsterdam and The Hague,
- (Netherlands), Knokke, Antwerp, Ostend, Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg, Nice, Vence, (France), Monaco and elsewhere.
-
- He is not someone who takes the sea for granted …
- Phil Billen creates artworks with the enthusiasm of an initiate allied with an intense reflection of the world around him.
You might well read of his adventures in one of Djian’s novels :
- a rather fractured personality, strong yet fragile,
sensitive, and out of step with society.
-
- An artist with both feet on the ground and heart and
soul afloat, he savours time with which to be and to create.
-
- « I am an archeologist : I
dig; I reassemble pieces of old metal, ancient lengths of wood with
which I create ships that might well have existed;
I explore two opposing worlds, the purety of the seaside and the
universe of scrap metal yards. My paintings arethree dimensional, my
sculptures are assemblages. I do not reduce a block of stone to shape
it. I cut, I paste, I screw, I solder, I transform, I construct. From a
great sheet of metal, I create two ships.»
-
- « I have lived in a truck beside the Mediterranean with the minimum of equipment.
- This confrontation with the sea, with entire days
spent in solitude, have put in question all that I was ever taught and
all that I ever thought . The fluidity that I now feel today
comes from that. My only certainties are in my creative options. I do
not know why I only make ships, sailors, mermaids and fish. But I am
certain this is what I am supposed to do, and that fascinates me ».
-
- Were our planet to be totally smooth, it would be
perfect but very uninteresting. Rough ground, slopes, the untoward
makes the charm of it . Common objects today tend to be too
smooth and too comfortably clean. I think people will begin to be bored
and will soon be ordering cars with lumps and bumps. Grunge fashion is
a kind of humanising of objects.
- In my current work, it is the damaged,the
waterstained and muddy bits of wood that
- I am attracted to… »
-
- « …Whatever is unfashionable, rejected, worn
and denigrated attracts me. I direct my interest towards an
aspect of this planet that lies ungarnered and outside current trends
of thought. My sole message is that one must be happy, and my
artistic work claims to be so. Another aspect worth
mentioning is timescale. I work with materials which span time
and which should last 1000 years .
They have weight and solidity. »
-
- (Extracts from an interview with Pascale
Laviolette)
- Exhibitions
- 1990 Run Art Gallery, Brussels
- Art Wall+ B, New York, Usa
-
- 1994 Lola Gassin Galerie, Nice
- Riccadonna, Monaco
-
- 1995 Zic y +Low Art Gallery, Brussels
-
- 1996 Atelier B galerie, Vence
- Galerie Découvertes, Brussels
- Galerie Serge Scohy, Antwerp
- Orange galleri, Helsingor, Denmark
- Zichy +Low Art Gallery, Brussels
- Mostra del Arte contemporaneo, Satirana, Italy
-
- 1997 Novanta Nove Galerij, Amsterdam
- Galerie Art’Mosphère,Vence, France
- Halfje Bruin Galerij, Arnhem, Netherlands
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
-
- 1998 St’Art, Contemporary Art Fair, Strasbourg
- Atelier B galerie, Vence
- Galerie, Talent 21, Brussels
- Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
-
- 1999 Zichy +Low Art Gallery, Brussels
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
- L’Art en marche, Thionville, Luxemburg
- Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
-
- 2000 Galerie Epry-Cala, Paris
- Musée municipal, Monaco
Contemporary Art Fair, Den Haag, Netherlands
Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
-
- 2001 Galerie 2016, Brussels
- Novanta Nove Galerij, Amsterdam
Contemporary Art Fair, The Hague, Netherlands
Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Gent, Belgium
- 2002 Galerie Serge Scohy, Antwerp, Belgium
- Atelier B galerie, Vence ,France
- Benoot Gallery, Knokke het Zoute, Belgium
- Cap d’Art Galerie, Genval, Belgium
- Novo Seculo, Lisbon, Portugal
- Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid
- Galerie 2016, Brussels
- Galerie 2016, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
-
- 2003 DS Galerie, Brussels
- Contemporary Art Fair,Den Haag , Netherlands
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
- Fondation Bolly-Charlier, Huy, Belgium
- Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
- Benoot Gallery,Knokke het Zoute, Ostende, Belgium
- Espace Pierre, Monaco
- Les Tourelles, Le Crotoy, France
- ‘Think Small’, Virginia, USA
- Galerie Serge Scohy, Antwerp , Belgium
2004 DS Galerie, Brussels- Reinhard Galleri, Helsingor, Denmark
- Reinhard Galleri, Helsingor, Denmark
- Frieland gallery, Constance, Germany
- Atelier B galerie,Vence, France
- Benoot gallery, Knokke het Zoute, Belgium
- Linéart, Contemporary Art fair, Ghent, Belgium
- ‘Artist in residence’, Bargemon,Var, France
- Cap d’Art galerie, Genval ‘From two to
two’, Belgium
- 2005 Tra Vers Art , Wavre, Belgium
- Benoot Gallery, Knokke het Zoute, Ostende, Belgium
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
- DS Galerie, Brussels ‘ Need You’
- Espace Pierre, Monaco
- Galerie Winance Sabbe, Tournai, Belgium
- Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
-
- 2006 Galerie 2016, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Cap d’art galerie, Genval
- Benoot gallery, Knokke het Zoute, Ostende, Belgium
- Atelier B galerie,Vence, France
- Artespace, espace Jaquemotte Brussels
- Atelier 340, 110 artists ’Jette sur mer’
- ‘Sculpture 2006’ square Armand Steurs, Brussels
- Rive Gauche galerie, Namur, Belgium
- ‘Artist in residence’, Bargemon, Var, France
- Galerie Serge Scohy, Antwerp, Belgium,
- Artmosphera, en trio,Courtrai, Belgium
- Les Tourelles, Le Crotoy, France
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
-
- 2007‘Artist in residence’, Bargemon, Var, France
- Atelier B galerie, Vence, France
DS Galerie, Brussels ‘ Need You’
Espace Pierre, Monaco
Galerie Winance Sabbe, Tournai, Belgium
Linéart, Contemporary Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
Atmosphera, en trio, Courtrai
DS Galerie,‘ Zwart en blanc’, joint exhibition, Brussels, Belgium
Sculpture 2007 square Armand Steurs, Brussels, Belgium
‘La route de soi’ Tourinnes, Belgium
- Joins Beddington Fine Art in Octobre 2007.
- St’Art, Contemporary Art Fair, Strasbourg, France
- DS Galerie ‘Guerre et Paix in duo’
- 2008 DS Galerie Bruxelles, Belgium
- "White inspiration" collectif, Vence, France
- Salon Technipierre, invited by the Cristallerie du Val Saint Lambert, Liège, Belgium
- Atmosfera, in permanence, Courtrai, Belgium
- Guy Beddington FineArt, in permanence, Bargemon, Belgique
- Tryptique, Foire d’Art Contemporain, Angers, France
- St’Art, Foire européenne d’art contemporain, Strasbourg, France
- 2009 Atmosfera, solo, Courtrai, Belgium
- Guy Beddington FineArt, solo, Château L'Arnaude, Lorgues, France
- La Muse Hardie, Philippeville, Belgium (Two to two)
- Galerie Bagnato, Constance, Germany
- Foire d'Art, Bodensee - Doornbirn, Austria
- Galerie DS, Vence, France
- DS Galerie, From Two to two, duo, Belgium
- Lille Art Fair, Foire européenne d'art contemporain, Lille, France
- St'Art, Foire européenne d'art contemporain, Strasbourg, France
- 2010 Galleri 2B, Helsingor, Denmark (Two to two)
- Lille Art Fair, Foire européenne d'art contemporain, solo show, Lille, France
- Galerie DS, Vence, France
- Guy Beddington Fine Art, collective, Bargemon, France
- Art Messe, Bodensee - Doornbirn, Austria
- Gallery Bagnato, en duo, Konstanz, Germany
- DS Galerie Bruxelles, Collective, The 10 years of the gallery
- Tryptique, salon d'art contemporain, Hôtel de ville, Angers, France
- St'Art, Foire européenne d'art contemporain, Strasbourg, France
- 2011 Solo show pre-opening of Lille Art Fair at P&P Architects, DS Galerie
- Lille Art Fair, Foire européenne d'art contemporain, solo show, Lille, France
- Installation of a monumental sculpture at the roundabout of the Commune of Bruxelles, with DS Galerie
- Galerie DS, Vence, France
- Beddington Fine Art Bargemon, France "Que savons-nous des Sirènes ?" Paintings and Sculptures
- 5th June to 13th August 2011 (private view Saturday 11th June at 6pm)
|
artist 
biographie