Michael Bidlo (born 20 October 1953) is an American conceptual artist who employs painting, sculpture, drawing, performance, and other forms of "social sculpture."

Early life and education

Bidlo was born in Chicago, Illinois and studied at the University of Illinois (BA,1973), Southern Illinois University Carbondale (MFA,1975), and at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York, (MA,1978).

Career

Early years

In 1980 shortly after moving to New York City from Chicago, Bidlo participated in Colab's Times Square Show and in 1982 Bidlo was awarded a studio at the PS1 Museum where he staged Jack the Dripper at Peg's Place, an installation rendering his vision of Peggy Guggenheim's Beekman Place townhouse, with the fireplace famously used by Pollock as a pissoir. Bidlo's event was an act of homage and defiance and for the next few years he immersed himself in discovering how to paint like Pollock, then executing his series to scale of "NOT Pollock" drip paintings. The Pier 34 project was co-organized by Bidlo and David Wojnarowicz and lasted from 1983 to 1984 until it was closed by the police. The pier was located in the abandoned Ward Line shipping terminal located at the foot of Canal Street. Bidlo and Wojnarowicz issued a statement and an invitation spread through art channels including Lucy Lippard for artists to come and work in the pier building.

Masterpieces Series

In 1983 Bidlo painted his version of Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" in the PS1 studio. This painting was subsequently shown in "Picasso's Women: 1901–1971" at Leo Castelli Gallery, the "Masterpieces" exhibition at Bruno Bischofberger Gallery, and in 2015 at the Grand Palais in Paris. This painting was the beginning of Bidlo's reinventions and recreations of iconic works in the history of modernist masters. Series from 1985 to 1998 include: In 2002 The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo mounted an exhibition titled "MIKE BIDLO. NOT Picasso, NOT Pollock, NOT Warhol" which included NOT Duchamp, NOT Léger, NOT Magritte and NOT de Chirico, and a catalog was published with two essays. The one in English has an essay by David Levi Strauss.

Recent exhibitions and work

In 2016 an exhibition "MIKE BIDLO: NOT Duchamp, Fountain and Bottle Rack" included a bronze edition of "Fractured Fountain" and "Bottleracks" that were gilded in gold. Three bottleracks that were inaccurate and canceled from the edition were exhibited flattened by a steamroller. Since 2006 Bidlo has been engaged in creating a series of works on paper, meditations on modern masters including; Roy Lichtenstein, Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Vincent van Gogh.

Installations and actions

Selected bibliography