R. Friedrich Bliem
Biography in the Arts
Painting from Friedrich´s mid teens
From his early 20´s: Musician
Graphic work from his early 30s
R. Friedrich Bliem
Biography in the Arts
R. Friedrich Bliem bridges art and science, exploring life sciences and robotics, reflecting on evolution and human identity in the face of technological change. His paintings bring the hidden world of science into view, inviting audiences to sense and feel, as opposed to explaining, what is normally hidden from outsiders.
Background & Education:
He was born in Austria, raised in Australia, and worked in the UK and USA. His father was a professional as an artist, from whom he very early on aquired the basic skills of painting in vary media and allowed him full access to his studio. As of his late teens he spent several years as a musician before continuing with his training in the arts, lastly working alongside and under the supervision of Rudolf Macek M.Royal Acad.Arts.
It was his interest in the association between art and music that led him to enroll in a course in bioprocess engineering, which offered a broad insight into the sciences and engineering.
Professional Path:
Bliem first worked as a cartoonist and scientific illustrator for renowned academic publishers such as Elsevier and as freelance artist. Subsequently, he pursued a path in in academia («engieering & research») before once again focusing on art.
Exhibitions & Presentations
Today he exhibits his works, largely paintings, explores robot-human collaboration as performances and writes on aspects of art. His works have been shown in Austria, Spain and the UK. His first exhibition was in Vienna, 1979 and the first exhibition of Science Art was in Nov. 1984 in Cambridge, England.
Art Style & Themes:
His work aims to express scientific concepts, especially from cell biology and evolution, in aesthetically appealing images, inviting the viewer to access to the microcosm on a sensory level. In addition, his repertoire includes animal caricatures. More recently he has also focused on the co-creation of images with AI-based robot printers.
His Aims
R. Friedrich Bliem is a contemporary artist who combines art and science. He has ventured into the theory of science art as a genre unto itself, but his motivation remains that same, i.e. simply to place science among the subjects of the visual arts.
Through exhibitions in established cultural institutions especially in Vienna he plays a role in shaping the SciArt movement.
Cambridge Evening News, November 23, 1984
Science Art exhibition from 1984
In 1973 he became fascinated by the phenomenon sonochromatism. To explore this further he enrolled in a study programm encompassing chemistry, microbiology and engineering at the BOKU university in Vienna, while continuing his art training.
By1979 Bliem had begun exhibiting his artwork in a small gallery in Vienna.
This early blending of art, science and technology helped him realize that certain ideas, whether scientific, technical, or philosophical, could be communicated most powerfully through various visual forms. With this in mind he was soon found work as a freelance illustrator in England.
In 1987 he was offered a position in research and development in the USA, based on previous research. Although he had intended only a brief sabbatical from the arts, it led to a prolonged path in industrial R&D, academia and as an entrepreneur, before returning to the arts.
A common thread throughout, beginning with his early paintings while still studying, has been the repeated focus on the visual communication of scientific content.
.......and back to art.
