Biju Joze (b.1972, Bangalore) received his BFA from College of Fine Art, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore, in 1996, and a MFA from MSU Baroda in 1999. He also studied in University of Ideas, Cittadellarte Foundazione Pistoletto, Biella in 2000. The multilayered relationship between man and object in the real world is one of the central focuses of Biju Joze’s art. He subjects the original form of an object to several manipulations, playing with scale, function and context. The subsequent narrations are the result of a process of fragmentation and reconstruction, through concept and material.
Lives and works in Bangalore
Education
2000 Universities of Ideas, Cittadellarte Foundazione Pistoletto, Biella.
1997- 1999 MFA, MSU Baroda.
1990- 1996 BFA, College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore.
Solo Exhibitions
2003 Skindeep, Gallery Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore.
2000 Breath, performance inside an elevator, Cittadellarte Foundazione Pistoletto, Biella.
1999 Water Marks, Fine Arts Faculty, MSU Baroda.
Group Exhibitions
2008 From Surface to Origin: Journeys Through Recent Art From India and Thailand, Gallery Soulflower, Bangkok.
2007 India As Guest In The Giant, Swarovski Kristallwelten
Museum, Wattens.
Polyphonies Galerie/Kunshalle Hosp, Tirol.
Objects; Making/Unmaking, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.
2006 Cohabitations, Biennale International Design, St- Etienne.
Made By Indians, Art on the beach, San Tropez (Galerie Enrico
Navarra).
2005 Turning the Wheel: Traditions Unbound, India Habitat Center, New Delhi.
Double Enders, Jehangir Art Gallery & The Museum Gallery, Mumbai and traveling.
Use/Throw, Galerie sara Arakkal, Bangalore.
2003 Inaugural show, Galerie sara Arakkal, Bangalore.
Courtesy Month, public art project by traffic police, Richmond circle flyover, Bangalore.
2001 On the Edge of the Volume, Alliance Francaise, Bangalore.
2000 The Border: The Concept and the Spirit, Cittadellarte Foundazione Pistoletto, Biella.
Concept Shop, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore.
Coffee Cup Project , Illy Caffe Company, Cittadellarte Foundazione Pistoletto, Biella.
1997 Group show, Sristhi Art Gallery, Baroda.
Group Show, Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore.
Student’s Annual Show, ChitraKalala Parishath, Bangalore.
Group show, Images Art Gallery, Bangalore.
1995 Group show, Braganza Art Gallery, Goa.
1994 Karnataka Lalitha Kala Academy’s Annual Exhibition, Gulbarga.
National Kala Mela , Bangalore.
1993 15th All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Cithrakala Parishath, Bangalore.
My Work
My work is based on the intermediate-range ballistic missile, designed to carry a payload of nuclear warheads for the Indian nation, and named after the Sanskrit term for one of the elements of nature – fire (‘Agni’) that is also a spiritual symbol.
The long cylindrical form of a missile appears scooped out of a tightly packed body of books, exhibiting various titles selected to satirically approach the subject of war. The fact of the missile’s physical absence from that space is intriguing. The book visible at the forward end reads ‘Don’t Look Down’ obliquely suggesting a warning not to see the misshapen aftermath of destruction. The idea is to present the ominous idea of controlled annihilation and juxtapose its mindlessness with the concept of knowledge and cumulative cultural expression stored in the tomes. The incongruity of the material and the suggestion of the threat posed by the missile continue the representations of my previous work Agni I in which small mounds of brass dust below the papier-mâché missile and on its head hinted at the notion of faking the reality of warheads, akin to using rubber bullets. – Biju Joze