Maurice Blik
Born in Amsterdam in 1939, by the age of four Maurice Blik was face to face with the questions and choices that philosophers, artists and religions have left unanswered.
Maurice Blik has lived in England since being liberated from Bergen Belsen, where he was taken as a small child from his birthplace, Amsterdam. The ability to come to terms with this experience and to confront the face of humanity that he had witnessed, stayed silent in his life for some forty years. It finally found a voice in the passionate and exquisite sculpture which began to emerge in the late 1980s when he created a series of horses' heads. These noble and benevolent creatures posses an energy and a life force that seem just barely harnessed long enough to take their shape in the clay itself. Later he progressed to more figurative work in which the irrepressible joy of life and the destructive, inpenetrable shadow of existence, are held together in a struggling unity.
Maurice Blik has had an extensive career in Art Education, teaching at all levels from Primary to Post Graduate. In the 1980s he began to develop his own artwork and in 1991 gave up teaching to work full time on sculpture. He has a post-graduate Art Teacher's Certificate with Distinction from London University. In 1996 he was elected President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Maurice Blik works in the UK and USA where he was awarded residency by the US Government as 'a person of extraordinary artistic ability'.
QUALIFICATIONS
1960
National Diploma (Sculpture) (NDD) Hornsey College of Art
1969
Art Teachers Certificate (ATC) University of London
1992
Elected Fellow (FRBS) Royal Society of British Sculptors
1996
Elected President (PRBS) Royal Society of British Sculptors
1997
Elected Fellow (FRSA) of the Royal Society of Arts
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & ART FAIRS
2019
The British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery; Solo Exhibition (Bowman Sculpture, London); Artist's Plasters: The Artist at Eighty (Sculpt Gallery)
2018
Solo Exhibition of New Sculpture, Bowman Sculpture, London (April-May 2018)
Winter Antiques, New York, USA (Bowman Sculpture)
2017
Art Miami, USA (Bowman Sculpture)
2016
Art Miami, USA (Bowman Sculpture)
2015
'The Art of Casting' with Naoimi Blake FRBS and Simon Bacon, Sculpt Gallery, Essex (7 Mar-11 Apr)
2014
Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong (with Bowman Sculpture)
Open Studio, Sculpt Gallery, Essex, UK
2013
Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong (with Bowman Sculpture).
'Kiss' Gallery Different, London, UK
2012
'Into the Light' Solo show, Sculpt Gallery, Essex, UK
2010
'Masterpiece London' (with Bowman Sculpture)
2008
Royal Society of British Sculptors - Solo Exhibition and artists talk, London, UK
2007/8
Hannah Peschar Sculpture Park, Surrey UK
2006
Chambers Gallery - Solo Exhibition London, UK
1999
Blain's Fine Art (now Haunch of Venison) - Solo Exhibition London, UK
1998/7
Pier Walk Sculpture - Invited Artist Chicago, USA
1998
Hiscox Art Café, London, UK
Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park- Invited Artist, Chicago, USA
National Trust Open Air Sculpture Exhibition UK - Invited Artist
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London UK - Invited Artist; also 1997, 1993, and 1991
1996
Museum Masters Collection, Manhattan, New York
'95-2011
Irving Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
1994
World Art Forum, Davos, Switzerland
1993
Chelsea Harbour 93 Sculpture, UK - Invited Artist
1992
Herbert Read Gallery - Invited Artist Canterbury, UK
1989
Cavalier Gallery Greenwich & Connecticut, USA
1988
Air Gallery Critics Choice selected by Mary Rose Beaumont, UK
1985
Alwin Gallery - Solo Exhibition, London, UK
SELECTED COMMISSIONS
2018
For Love of Cyprus, The International Arkin Group, Cyprus.
2017
Evacuees' Memorial 'Every Which Way, National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, UK.
2012
Modern Medals Collection, The Goldsmiths Company, London, UK
2011
UK Chandler Hospital, University of Kentucky, USA
2006
About Face, P&O Developments Regent Quarter, King's Cross, London, UK
2005
Splishsplash, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA
2004
Inspired Encounter, Glaxo Smith Kline European HQ, London, UK
2003
Slave Worker's Memorial, Jersey Heritage Museum, Jersey, C.I
2000
Behold, Middlesex University, London, UK
1999
Pursuit of Knowledge, JP Morgan Investment Bank, London, UK
1998
Art and Work Award Trophy, Flemings Bank, Scotland, UK
Emerging Man, Private Commission Ham Manor, Wiltshire, UK
1997
At First Light, Sir Peter Michael, Donnington Valley, Newbury, UK
Early Morning Shadow, Burmah-Castrol HQ, Swindon, UK
1996
Jack Ashley Award, All Party Disablement Group House of Commons, London UK
1995
Renaissance, East India Dock, Docklands, London UK
1993
Communicator of the Year Award, Royal National Institute for Deaf People, London, UK
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
1960-1964
Art Teacher, Secondary Schools
1964-1968
Lecturer, Further Education Colleges
1969-1980
Lecturer in Art Education, Hornsey College of Art and Design
1980-1991
Lecturer/Course Leader Visual Art Middlesex Polytechnic/University