Biography

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; 1969Art Teachers Certificate (ATC) University of London 1992; Elected Fellow (FRBS) Royal Society of British Sculptors; 1996 Elected President (PRBS) Royal Society of British Sculptors; 1997Elected Fellow (FRSA) of the Royal Society of Arts.

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.


SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & ART FAIRS
2021 - The Winter Exhibition, Bowman Sculpture, London (22 Nov - 20 Dec).
2021 - EA Festival Sculpture Garden, Hedingham Castle (31 Jul - end Sept 2021).
2019 - The British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery.
2019 - Artist's Plasters: The Artist at Eighty, Sculpt Gallery.
2018 - Solo Exhibition of New Sculpture, Bowman Sculpture, London (April-May 2018).
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)
2014 - Open Studio, Sculpt Gallery, Essex, UK
2013 - Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong (with Bowman Sculpture).
2013 - '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 artist’s 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
1998 - Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park- Invited Artist, Chicago, USA
1998 - National Trust Open Air Sculpture Exhibition UK - Invited Artist
1998 - 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

COMMISSIONS INCLUDE:
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
1998 - 'Emerging Man' Private Commission Ham Manor, Wiltshire, UK
1997 - 'At First Light' Sir Peter Michael, Donnington Valley, Newbury, UK
1997 - '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