Bill Meyer (artist)
Encyclopedia
Life
Bill Meyer (10 December 1942) Born in Australia, Bill Meyer graduated from Melbourne University in art history and languages and then from the National Gallery Art School, (later Victorian College of the ArtsVictorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
), completing his formal art training at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
in London (1972). Research at the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut YIVO
YIVO
YIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
New York, as well as Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
and Kollel
Kollel
A kollel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim and learning sedarim ; unlike a yeshiva, the student body of a kollel are all married men...
learning, has provided much of the conceptual underpinning of Meyer’s artwork, and he was a visiting resident artist during the ‘80s and ‘90s at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim
Mishkenot Sha’ananim
Mishkenot Sha’ananim was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, on a hill directly across from Mount Zion...
artists’ studios in Jerusalem.
Work
Meyer established a fine art editioning studio in London during the 1970s at 10 Martello Street, HackneyLondon Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....
, and printed for many artists including Genesis P'Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti is best known as a performance artist and for her time in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey....
making posters for the infamous Prostitution show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in London in 1976, as well as conceiving and creating photo-events with Genesis and Cosey as performers and models.http://www.artmetropole.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=shop.FA_dsp_browse_details&InventoryUnitsID=a755a8b1-36a6-487b-ac95-2c3bbfa6e043&CategoryID=99d0664e-00ba-44d5-8a6a-141e12293e38 He has since continued to use photography, film and music in his work.http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=bill%20meyer;querytype=;resCount=10 He has worked with a large number of Australian artists at Port Jackson Press publishing in Melbourne. During the eighties, while he was a committee member, and later when he was president of the Print Council of Australia,http://www.printcouncil.org.au Meyer curated travelling exhibitions including the controversial Print as Object. He also created Gapscape, an exhibition of his prints and drawings which toured twenty-four regional Australian galleries. In 1995 he participated in The Wandering Jew
Wandering Jew
The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming...
. Myth and Metaphor, curated and toured for the Jewish Museum of Australia
Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia is a community museum, which aims to explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia and benefit Australia's diverse society...
, an organisation with which he has collaborated in numerous other curated and solo projects.http://www.jewishmuseum.com.au Recent work includes the 105 metre charcoal on paper installation, A Special Place - HaMakom, and experiments with Lamda photographic digital prints.http://www.ludwintales.net:80
Selected Exhibitions and Publications
- 1962; Bill Meyer, New East-side Gallery, Melbourne
- 1969; Matzoh Stomp, Gallery Lanae, Melbourne and Balwyn Cinema International
- 1972; Cancellations, Screen Prints Photographs & Xeroxes by Bill Meyer, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
- 1973; Eating Mussels in the Bath, Paper Point Gallery (Wiggins Teape), London and Bonython Galleries, Sydney
- 1973; Jaynie Anderson, Bill Meyer: Screenprints Documentations Photography, University of Exeter, 1973
- 1974; Mezzanine Xpos, Galerij Romi Goldmuntz Centrum, Antwerp
- 1975; New York Subway Graffiti & the American Landscape, Painting Box Press, Zurich
- 1976; 'Underwater/Underground, Bill Meyer and Mati Grunberg', Institute of Contemporary Arts Bulletin
- 1977; Sinai Paintings and Drawings, Galerij Luka te Boechout.
- 1982; Geelong Survey Exhibition, 4, Pam Ashcroft, Noel Essex, Bill Meyer, Brian Poynton, Geelong Art Gallery, 1982
- 1982; Seven artists : Jonas Balsaitis, Charles Green, Paul Laspagis, Joseph McDermott-Mallin, Bill Meyer, Andrew Reeve, David Ryan, Victorian College of the Arts Gallery, Melbourne, 1982
- 1982; GAPSCAPE, introduction by Doug Hall and David Rankin, ISBN 095931380X
- 1984; Inside the Gap, Installations lectures, and workshops, Wagga City Art Gallery
- 1985; Print as Object, Print Council of Australia, ISBN 090922708X
- 1989; New Paintings - A Reason for Being, Gretz Gallery, Melbourne
- 1999; Chaim (Bill) Meyer, The Jerusalem Drawings
- 1999; Eva Eden, 'Bill Meyer, Survey Exhibitions'. Imprint The Print Council of Australia Journal, vol. 34, pp. 6–7.
- 1999; Untitled Booth and Survey, Convent Gallery, Daylesford.
- 2006; Chaim (Bill) Meyer, A project of Kollel Beis Ha Talmud-Yehuda. A Special Place – HaMakom. (Jewish Art and Symbolism, a decade of Meyer’s Drawings & installations), edited by Yisroel Greenwald, Fishman Institute, Melbourne, ISBN 1875670386, http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an000040346909