Born in 1970 in Leerdam, The Netherlands, Marc Bijl lives and works in Rotterdam. Bijl’s punk-inspired practice problematizes counter culture’s guerilla lexicon by staging it within the confines of contemporary art institutions, side-stepping any clear-cut political claim in the process. His work first appears to be aimed at subverting the iconography, and by extension, the power structures of nation-states, organized religions and corporate bodies through the use of protest-inspired strategies such as spray-painting text onto the neo-classical pillars of a museum: “Resist” (2002), or pouring tar over the statue of an eagle: “Dark Symbolism” (2004). But Bijl’s cryptic propagandist mythology also props up the condemned institutions’ authority. His ambiguous work plays with the slippery nature of symbolism, meaning and power, under-minding any real potential for subversion by fetishizing the tactics and aesthetics of revolt.
Marc Bijl has recently presented solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2009), The Breeder, Athens (2009), DA2, Salamanca (2009) and Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam (2008), where he will be presenting another solo show in the Fall of 2010. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions and projects, including “Restless Empathy” at Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2010), “Crop Rotation” at Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2008), the Sculpture Garden of Frieze Art Fair, London (2007), “Destroy Athens”, the 1st Athens Biennale (2007), “Memorial to the Iraq War” at the ICA, London (2007) and the 2nd Moscow Biennale (2007).
Marc Bijl is represented by The Breeder, Athens, Bugada & Cargnel, Paris and Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam.
For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art
