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Painting, Printmaking, Digital Images, Music and Installations
Bill Meyer, an established artist has worked and lived in Europe, Israel and U.S.A. whilst maintaining a studio base in rural Australia. He currently divides his time mostly between Europe and Australia.
In a career of nearly fifty years Meyer has used photography, and devised sound works using an array of electronic and acoustic instruments as part of installation and performance pieces. He has painted murals, made paper, published poetry, and has conducted workshops for children and adults in forests, schools and universities, public galleries and community centres. He has published more than 400 editions of etchings, screen prints and lithographs. HAMAKOM, his first book was published in 2006. Meyer now employs digital and computer processes in his work which includes books and music.
As a master print-maker, Meyer established a fine art editioning studio in London during the 1970s when he also worked through the Jewish Agency for the World Union of Jewish Students. He has worked with major Australian artists at Port Jackson Press publishing in Melbourne. During the eighties, as a committee member, and as president of the Print Council of Australia, Meyer curated travelling exhibitions including the controversial “PRINT AS OBJECT”.
He created “GAPSCAPE”, an exhibition of his prints and drawings which toured twenty four regional Australian galleries. In 1995 he participated in “THE WANDERING JEW, MYTH & METAPHOR”, devised and toured for the Jewish Museum of Australia, with which he has collaborated in numerous curated and solo projects. Touring regional state and galleries 2003-6 was the drawing installation, ‘HAMAKOM-A SPECIAL PLACE.’
As a teacher he lectured and worked as a guest artist in schools, art colleges and universities in England, U.S.A. and Australia.
Meyer received grants and sponsorship from the British Council, the Australia Council, and the Australian Experimental Film and Television Fund. He has also been funded by State Arts organisations for community projects in Wagga, NSW and Camperdown, Victoria. Another grant brought Meyer to the Victorian Arts Centre for a multi-media performance and installation piece. His work is in public, corporate, and private collections. The National Gallery of Australia holds in its collection a complete set of his pre-digital prints. The Tate London has a selection of his prints in their collection.
Born in Australia in 1942, Meyer graduated from Melbourne University in art history and then from the National Gallery Art School, Victorian College of the Arts, completing his formal art training in London. Researching at the New York Y.I.V.O. Institute, and at the Yale University Library and with Yeshiva and ongoing Kollel learning, this has provided much of the conceptual underpinning of Meyer’s artwork. He often visits Israel, where, during the ‘80s &‘90s he worked from the Mishkenot Sha’ananim studios in Jerusalem.
The theme of the wanderer recurs as metaphor and biography. Themes of forests as sanctuary and places for spiritual growth, family histories, and the sense of MAKOM, special places, and the attribute of the Creator as omnipresent interact with aspects of transience, exile and holocaust. This is recorded on etching plates, camera, digitally and with written notes. The ostensible subjects, Australian landscape, rocky Judean hills, alley walls, barbed wire and flowers in Jerusalem, trains and journeys, or snow-scapes in Scandinavia are psychological and spiritual landscapes.
Biography
1942: Born, Melbourne, Australia
1964-7: BA, University of Melbourne
1969: Travel: Europe and Israel
1968-71: National Gallery Art School, Melbourne
1972: Post-graduate work, London
1972-9: Lives in London and New York
1981-3: Lectures in Printmaking, Deakin University, Geelong
Victorian College for the Arts (V.C.A.)
Melbourne State College
1982-4: Regional Galleries tour of Australia
(GAPSCAPE: Prints and Drawings)
1984: Artist in Residence, City of Wagga Wagga and Riverina College, N.S.W.
1984: Travel in India
1984: Artist in schools (A.I.S.), Camperdown High School, Victoria
Mural project: "Stony Risings"
Lectures in Printmaking, (R.C.A.E., Wagga), Artist in residence, Wagga
1985: Curates "Print as Object", travelling exhibition
1986: Travel in India
1985-7: 3-dimensional prints performance and sound experiments
1986-92: Artist/Printmaker with Port Jackson Press
Long-term, site specific Bushland Sculpture park project
1989-90: Guest artist at Mishkenot Sha’ananim for Jerusalem Foundation
1992-93: Europe and Israel
1994: Artist/Printmaker with Chrysalis Publications
1995: Europe and Israel. Studio work at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem
1996-7: Wandering Jew exhibition, Australian regional gallery tour
1997-2000: Printmaking projects with Port Jackson Press, Australasia
1998-2003 Studio work at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Israel. Travel and research in Eastern Europe
1999-2014: Travels regularly in Australia , Europe, and Israel. Works from studio in forest near Daylesford and Castlemaine, Victoria
One-Man Exhibitions
1969: MATZOH STOMP. Gallery Lanae at Balwyn Cinema International, Victoria
1970: HARD AND SOFT WINDOWS, National Gallery Art School Victoria, new college gallery at Victorian Arts Centre
1971: THE WORLD OF BAUDELAIRE Crossley gallery, Melbourne
City Art Gallery, Shepparton
PRINTS, National Gallery of Victoria, gallery society rooms
1972: CANCELLATIONS & BEGINNINGS, documentations at Institute of Contemporary Art, London
1973: PRINTS, Bonython Gallery, Sydney
GROTTY LONDON GRIDS; Paperpoint Gallery, London
PRINTS & DRAWINGS, Exeter University, Devon, U.K.
PRINTS, Crossley Gallery, Melbourne
1974: NEW YORK SUBWAY GRAFFITI & THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE, Screen prints. Romi Goldmuntz Centre, Antwerp
1975: NEW YORK SUBWAY GRAFFITI & THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE, Screen prints and drawings, Israel linke, Amsterdam,
PRINTS, Painting box gallery, Zurich
PRINTS (solo show) at “Commonwealth Symposium”, Exeter University. Devon, UK
1976: PRINTS AND DRAWINGS, De Vaart, Hilversum
“UNDERWATER /UNDERGROUND”, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
PRINTS, University of Surrey, (Guildford), U.K.
1977: SINAI PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS – MARKINGS & TRACKINGS, Galerij Luka, Boechout (Antwerp)
NEW WORK: Wall Street Gallery, Madison, Connecticut, USA.
1980: PRINTS, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria
1981: THE GAP, PRINTS & DRAWINGS, Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1982: PRINTS DRAWINGS PAINTINGS, Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
1982-4: GAPSCAPE; Australian Regional Galleries Tour, (17 Regional, State, City and University Galleries; Geelong, Vic, Broken Hill, NSW, Orange, NSW, Benalla, Vic, Shepparton, Vic, Bendigo, Vic Wagga Wagga, NSW, Albury, NSW, Sale, Vic, Mildura, Vic, Swan Hill, Vic, Tamworth, NSW, Warrnambool, Vic, Horsham, Vic, Penrith, NSW, Mt. Gambier, SA, University of WA, Undercroft Gallery, WA.
1983: GAPSCAPE, Solander gallery, Canberra
1984: PRINTS & DRAWINGS, Bonython-Meadmore Gallery, Adelaide,
INSIDE THE GAP at Wagga City Art Gallery (Performance/Installation)
GAP ROOM, Drawing installation at Riverina College of Advanced Education, Gallery, Wagga, NSW.
1984 STONY RISINGS, installation and murals, AIS, (Artists in Schools) at Camperdown Secondary College, Vic.
1986: "ART GALLERY INTERPLAY", Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne
1986: Related works on Paper and Prints, Art Gallery Interplay, Art scope, Melbourne
1986-9: WORKS ON PAPER, Gretz Gallery Melbourne, (three solo shows)
1988; A REASON FOR BEING, (The Visual World of the Jewish mind) paintings and drawings at Gretz Gallery, Melbourne
1992: MINI RETROSPECTIVE, Prints; Convent Gallery, Daylesford, Victoria
1993: THE JERUSALEM ETCHINGS: Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1995: ISRAEL PRINTS AND PAINTINGS, Convent Gallery, Daylesford
1996: LANDSCAPES- RITUALS AND MEMORY, Convent Gallery, Daylesford
1998: ISRAEL, 50 YEARS, celebrations, Yom Ha’atzmaut; Etchings at Jewish Museum of Australia
1999: SURVEY, 30 YEARS. RETROSPECTIVE at Convent Gallery, Daylesford, Victoria, INSTALLATIONS; Visual mythologies in a forest, Castlemaine Biennial Arts Festival, THE JERUSALEM DRAWINGS, A.R.T. Gallery Melbourne; PREVIEW; Days of Creation, Jewish Museum Melbourne
1999: SELECTED SCREENPRINTS, from the HIRSH donation, Jewish Museum of Australia
2001: DAYS OF CREATION, Photo essay, Jewish Historical Museum Amsterdam
2003: A SPECIAL PLACE-HA MAKOM, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
2005: A SPECIAL PLACE-HA MAKOM, Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, N.S.W.
2006: A SPECIAL PLACE-HA MAKOM, at the Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria
2007: A SPECIAL PLACE-HAMAKOM (the complete drawing project installed) at Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Tasmania
2008: A SPECIAL PLACE-HA MAKOM, at the Ararat Regional Art gallery, Victoria
2012-2013; Significant Journeys, Digital prints, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
2014: Nurturing the Place, Digital prints, Castlemaine Historical Museum and Art Gallery, Victoria.
Group Exhibitions
1962 Eastside Gallery Melbourne. (with Bob Jacks & Allan Brown)
1971: Young Australian Printmakers, Print Council of Australia Travelling Exhibition (Australia and Southeast Asia). Gallery Artists Crossley Gallery, Melbourne
Survey, Bonython Gallery, Sydney
Shepparton City Art Gallery, Shepparton
Graduate Show, National Gallery Art School at new college gallery Victorian Arts Centre
1972: Survey, Bonython Gallery, Sydney
1973: Graphics and Film, Jewish Artists at Romi Goldmuntz Centre, Antwerp
Space Open Studios, London
1974: Ashiyagaway International Biennale, Japan
1975: Space Open Studios, London
1976: Grafiek Kunstmesse, Basel
A.I.R. artists, A.I.R. Gallery London
Graphics De Beyerd, Breda, Holland
1977: Urban landscape, British Council travelling exhibition, U.K.-Europe
Calligraphers, Musee de Beaux Arts, Brussels
1978: Younger British Printmakers, Campbell and Franks, London
N.I.A.S. Gallery, Perth. WA.
1980: Mitchell Endowment purchase exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Works on Paper, Burnie City Art Gallery, Tasmania.
Selected Works from Deakin University Collection, at The Mill, Geelong.
Brim-Brim Gallery, Queenscliff, Victoria.
1981: Mornington Drawing Purchase Exhibition, Victoria.
Fremantle Print Award Exhibition, W.A.
Contemporary Australian Printmakers, Raya Gallery, Melbourne and Singapore.
Capitol Permanent Award, Geelong Regional Gallery, Victoria.
Henri Worland Print Purchase, Warrnambool.
Group show and Performances, Finnegan’s Gallery. Ocean Grove, Victoria
1982: Survey 4, Geelong Gallery, Victoria
Mitchelton Print Exhibition, Direction Now, Benalla and Shepparton Regional Art Galleries
Seven Artists, Victorian College for the Arts gallery, Melbourne
Print Council of Australia Travelling Show
Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Drawing Purchase prize Exhibition
Wollongong City Gallery, NSW, Australian prints
1983: "Images of Women", Melbourne University Gallery
Art Peace, C.I.C.D. Show, Iceberg Gallery, Melbourne
Works on Paper, Ellimatta Gallery, Sydney
“Artists for Labour”: Fitzroy Town Hall, Melbourne
‘Urban Images’, British Council Touring exhibition, UK. and abroad till 1989
1984: Hardware Street Push, Roar Studios, Melbourne
Print Council Mini Print tour
Victorian Print Makers, 1984, Achai, Japan
1985-6: Geelong Art Gallery- "Survey, Surveyed"
"Australian Prints, 1985", touring USA for Print Council of Australia.
Miniature Art; Raja S2.D.O. Gallery Melbourne
1987: “Larry Rawling, Master Screen Printer- 20 years of Australian Screen Printing,”
(ACCA-Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne)
Tynte Gallery, Adelaide
1988: Views through Monotype. Anima Gallery, Adelaide
Dempsters, Melbourne
Jewish Arts Festival- Prints and Sculpture, Melbourne
Art Now, Israel & Australia, United Israel Appeal at Linden Gallery, Melbourne
1989: "A View of Colour". Prints by eight major Australian artists (Blackman, Boyd, Mitchell, Majzner, Meyer, Pugh, Hodgkinson, Rankin), Gryphon Gallery, Melbourne University
“Environmental Arts exhibition” State Bank Galleria, Melbourne
1990-1992: Group shows in Australian galleries organised by Port Jackson Press
1992: Mini-print show, Jewish Artists, Bnai Brith, Melbourne
1993: Jewish Artists, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne
Major Printers and Printmakers (Blackman, Boyd, Brack, Meyer, Pugh, Rankin), Solander Gallery, Canberra.
Gallery Israel-Linke, Amsterdam
1994: Group show, Wiregrass Gallery, Eltham, Victoria
A Festival Exhibition of Australian Prints, Louise Smith Fine Art, Adelaide, SA.
New Prints, Chrysalis Publishing, Fitzroy, Vic.
1995: “The Wandering Jew”. Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
1996-7: “The Wandering Jew”. Touring Australian Regional Galleries, (Warrnambool Art Gallery, Vic, Noosa Regional Art Gallery, Qld,, Albury Regional Art Gallery, NSW, Benalla Art Gallery, Vic, Horsham Art Gallery, Vic, Migration Museum, SA, Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, Vic).
1997: Cornucopia, A.R.T. Gallery Eden, Melbourne
2000: New Visions of Land, A.R.T. Gallery Eden, Melbourne
1999- 2002: “We Are Australian”, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, & tour of ten Australian Public galleries, also Durban, South Africa
2001: “Collaboration”, Artists and Master printmakers, Port Jackson Press, Australia
Works on Paper, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
2002: “Shabbat”, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
2003: Kosher Culture – Jewish Community Festival, St. Kilda, Victoria
Under the Covers – Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
2004: Return of the White Bull, (Mistake Creek), Geelong Regional Gallery
2006: Abstract works from gallery collection, Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2007: Group show, Pollock Gallery, Melbourne
2008: Australian Jewish Artists Works on Paper, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne
2008; Gallery Launch; Virtual gallery; “Fairy Tales for Grown-ups” Exhibits his first Lambda prints, Antwerp. www.ludwintales.net
Print Commissions
"Schone Wohnen" (Hamburg), 1973, screen print edition
Port Jackson Press (Sydney), 1979; screen print portfolio
Port Jackson Press (Melbourne), 1982, 1986-1992; editions, etchings & screen prints
Print Council of Australia, 1984, 1986 -Members prints
Victorian Art's Centre Trust, 1986.-Multimedia Print Installation/Performance
Awards and Grants
1970: Australian Experimental Film and TV fund, 1970.
1974: British Council.
1976: British Council.
1982: Visual Arts Board, Australia Council: Publication grant.
1982: Swan Hill, Drawing Purchase Prize.
1983: Swan Hill Rotary club annual prize
2006: Werled Foundation; publication grant, Jewish Museum of Australia.
Public Collections
ANZ Banking Group, Victoria.
Australian Bankers Association
Art Bank Australia.
Australian Broadcasting Commission, S.A.
Australian National Gallery, Canberra.
B.R.T. (Belgium Radio and Television).
BHP collection.
British Council Collection.
Burnie City Art Gallery, Tasmania.
City of Gleneira (Caulfield) Art Collection, Melbourne.
Deakin University, Geelong.
Federal Airports Corporation, Melbourne Airport.
Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne.
Jerusalem Foundation collection (Keren Yerushalayim, Israel)
Latrobe University, Melbourne
Launceston City Art Gallery, Tasmania.
Macquarie University, NSW.
National Gallery, Melbourne.
Perth University, W.A.
Peter McCallum Hospital collection, Melbourne
Queensland State Art Gallery.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania
Regional Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.
Regional Gallery, Bathurst, N.S.W.
Regional Gallery, Broken Hill, N.S.W.
Regional Gallery, Geelong, Vic.
Regional Gallery, Hamilton, Vic.
Regional Gallery, Warrnambool, Vic.
Regional Gallery, Rockhampton, Qld.
Regional Gallery, Shepparton, Vic.
Regional Gallery, Swan Hill, Vic.
Regional Gallery, Wollongong, N.S.W.
Regional Gallery, Bendigo.
Tate Gallery, London.
University of Melbourne.
University of NSW.
Victorian Education Department.
Westpac Banking Corporation.
Selected Bibliography
(A full bibliography and database Archive (Access) is also available on request)
Allan McCulloch, "Encyclopaedia of Australian Art", 1985.
Max Germaine, "Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand", Lansdowne Press, 1984.
Susan McCulloch, "Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, (Revised Edition), 1994
Lillian Wood, Directory of Australian printmakers, 1982, revised 1986. Print Council of Australia.
Rabbi Dr. Shimon Cowen, Journal of Judaism and Civilization, vol. 6, 2006, Melbourne.
Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch Childs, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art. (Updated 4th edition), Aus Art Editions in association with Miegunyah Press, 2006
Articles & Reviews
Australian Jewish News; reviews & features (A.F.M./archive file 1968-2006).
Australian & Overseas daily papers; reviews & features, (A.F.M./archive file, 1961-2006).
Catalogue Essays by curators & art authorities (A.F.M./archive/pubtext, 1961-2006).
Eva Eden; Bill Meyer. Imprint. (P.C.A.) 1999.
Lloyd Marsh; Street-Non Street. Praxis M #6, 1984, Perth W.A.
Stephanie Wallace; Bill Meyer, Printmaker. Imprint magazine, P.C.A. 1983, Melbourne
Prof. Jaynie Anderson; Catalogue Essay to Sequential Analysis & other prints 1973, London
Susan McCulloch-Uehlen; Catalogue essay, Bill Meyer -A Survey, 1969-1999.
Rabbi Dr. Shimon Cowen; The Jerusalem Drawings. Journal of Judaism and Civilization, 2006, Melbourne.
Danny Gocs; Article: ‘Significant Journeys inspired by the Torah’. Australian Jewish News, Jan 4 2013.
Danny Gocs: Article: ‘Nurturing a Modern Art’, Australian Jewish News, November 14th, 2014.
Victor Majzner: Text of opening speech: ‘Nurturing the Place’, Castlemaine Museum and Art Gallery, 2nd November 2014
Publications; (Text, Image. & Electronic Media) By Bill Meyer.
Exhibition catalogues with artist’s essays (A.F.M. /archive files 1961-2004).
GAPSCAPE, Bill Meyer Prints & Drawings, (book, 56 pp), 1982. Melbourne
INSIDE THE GAP, installation, catalogue notes, Wagga- Wagga City Art Gallery, 1984
SUBWAY GRAFFITI, AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE- BILL MEYER, Praxis M #6 Perth, 1984. Journal essay and interview.
PRINT AS OBJECT (the book). Curated for Print Council of Australia.1985
Illustrations to REFLECTIONS by Yvonne Fein, Generation, A Journal of Jewish Life vol 4 #3 1994. Melbourne.
Illustrations & occasional poems by Bill Meyer published in Generation 1994-1998.
DAYS OF CREATION; photo-essay, Generation, A Journal of Jewish Life, October 1997.
Music C.D.s; Sound compositions and music created & performed by Bill Meyer. Twenty albums digitally remastered & edited at Rhythm Boy Studio Melbourne, by Robert Bell with the artist.2002-2003.
D.V.D.; A SPECIAL PLACE, HA MAKOM. Film, Text, Music, Poems, & Virtual Gallery. Created by Robbie Simons of Quixotic films from the artist’s work. Ha Makom.
A Special Place HAMAKOM. A boxed set of 29 Postcards (image and text), Jewish Museum of Australia and the Werled Foundation.
A Special Place- HAMAKOM by Chaim (Bill) Meyer; a project for Kollel Beis HaTalmud (edited by Rabbi Y Greenwald). Published 2006. ISBN 0 9593138 1 8. Jewish Art and Symbolism, paperback, 152 pp.
NURTURING THE PLACE by Chaim Bill Meyer: catalogue for exhibition of digital prints at Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum. Published 2014, jointly by artist and Museum. ISBN 978-0-9593138-0-2. Paperback: 60pp and covers.
Center of Australian Arts, Prints and Printmaking
Chrysalis Gallery & Studio, Melbourne
‘Fairy Tales for Grown-ups’ includes Lambda digital prints by Bill Meyer on www.ludwintales.net
National Library of Australia
Port Jackson Press of Australia
Prints and Printmaking Australia Asia Pacific
407 Works | 6 Exhibitions | 7 Galleries | 4 Bibliographies | Exhibition History
Tate Modern collections
Tate Archive Catalogue
Wikipedia, Bill Meyer (artist)