Letter From Hell 3

FROM LUCIFER
fromlucifer.com

Dear Charles,

Forgive me this long silence. Since Bin Laden’s arrival things got worse.
The Taliban’s  behave no better  in this place and won’t let anybody near the
computer.  Bin is beside himself having been cheated out , through sudden and unexpected death, of the thousand virgins he was promised and is now stuck with a toothless old whore.  Of course he blames the Americans for his termination
and lost chance of a last  atonement prayer requested by Allah even of islamic extremists.

Charles, notice the above “forgive me” please, and consider that it wasn’t easy for me to articulate. I have never used the expression in life.
Nor “I apologize”,
Nor “I’m sorry”.
Nor “Please excuse me!”

It was part of Tito’s cult of brutality. I spent most of my efforts promoting it and practicing it. No place for niceties in my Yugoslavia! Etiquette and genocide don’t mix!
You will , however, appreciate the fact that I didn’t spare even my closest collaborators.
I knocked most of them off, in a state of blind paranoia, typical of communist
dictators.  But here in Hell I have all the time to reconsider things and an infernal perspective can reveal new horizons.

I spend a great deal of time beating myself on the chest and with the “Mea Culpa!” mantra which brings me some miraculous divine relief from unbearable heat.
And you know what…I have concluded by extension and observation that apology is the most successful political gambit, the most efficient economic stimulus,
the speediest way  to regain image, lost reputation and  new dignity.

Apology saved Germany, my archenemy, from permanent doom and gloom. Remember, immediately after its demise, Germany embarked on an intensive campaign of self-condemnation, abjectly apologizing to everyone it hurt during WWII, starting to make reparations and paying compensation. Through atonement Germany was able to raise its chin again and it has been the model of  pride through exculpation and success through humility and humane behavior!  Apology gave Germany the status of Economic Miracle for all times!

You got the gist of what I”m hinting at…
If  only Filipovic and his communist mates apologized to Croatia for MY annihilation of i.2million Croatian and other lives!

If he apologized on my behalf  to the millions of Croatians scattered around the world because of ME, the Godawful system I created, my mismanagement and destruction of the Croatian economy, the devastation of the legal system, the dispossession of people and clergy,  he would create the premise of a new start.

If he apologized to the Croatian people for the monstrous psychological schism and ideological  antagonism I have created between Croatian at home and those in the diaspora, he would help the re-establishment of  trust and love between them. He would  reduce the sad diffidence and suspicions in their relationship.

If he apologized for the horrendous injustices, the cheating and stealing of the naive repatriated  Croatian simple folk as well as the unsuspecting professionals who have been sucked in by a ruthless class of philo-titoists economic doctrinaires he would help the revival of a  morally and ethically fossilized Croatia.

And guess what?

The Croatian economy would kick-start again. New investment would pour in from diaspora and all friendly and  robust economies the world over.  Ask Professor Filipovic to start today and watch the apology miracle unfold in front of your eyes.  It could be the only option for the salvation of Croatia…forget the BandAid chimera of the European Union. What does the Union gain from the inclusion of a rotten apple?  More Greece?  More Portugals?  And what can it give Croatia, except reluctant  third tier membership and some aid with thick strings attached.  Nothing will work better than sober, self-imposed Croatian solidarity and cohesion.

Charles, I can’t access the President, I know you can.
And he will listen to my words, he will treat them like Gospel! They come after all from ME!

Now you understand why I chose you as my correspondent. Your type of passion, your understanding of the essential issues holding Croatia back from real progress, suggest to me you would be in tune and in agreement that the apology ploy is more than a secret weapon….it’s a public and infallible one!

By the way, I think your painting of the Srebrenica massacre is iconic. Milosevic showed it to me…As usual my little apprentice is influenced by the way I think and act.  He now also wants the Serbs to start apologizing. They must apologize to all the Balkan peoples they have victimized from time immemorial. Without the apologies, the Serbs will face a permanent stagnation.

Your totally contrite and abjectly sorry,

Josip Groz Tito

A Reincarnation Of… Whom?

 

A REINCARNATION… OF WHOM?
 

BILLICH PRESENTS “A COLLECTION OF IDENTITIES”

A CONVINCING BLACK SWAN, A FUNKY COLOMBINE, A ROMANTIC GISELLE, A RUTHLESS CARMEN…

BILLICH INVITES YOU TO VISIT THE GALLERY TO VIEW HIS LATEST WORKS

GALLERY OPEN MONDAY TO SUNDAY 9AM – 7PM

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO VISIT THE GALLERY, CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COLLECTION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON BILLICH, PLEASE CONTACT US.

BILLICH GALLERY
106 GEORGE STREET – THE ROCKS
billich@billich.com
02 9252 1481
www.billich.com 

To My American Friends…

The first decade has passed slowly, as painful instants seem eternal.

The pain lingers.Yet the evil is still there.
Nobody expected it to go away fast.
Yet it is going…

It will never go voluntarily and we have to be vigilant and take the noble fight against evil to the end… to the ultimate victory over it.

The people of the United States of America are targeted because they are the greatest threat to the forces of evil in the world.

Ten years after the greatest tragedy in American history, they are far from being dispirited. They may feel lonely in their fight at times. But we in Australia will never let our friends down!

The forces of evil are perceptibly weakening, which is encouraging.
Yet we will have to wait another decade for the complete demise.

We and our other friends and allies will do it together!
Australia shares, on this day of Remembrance, the sorrow of the People of the United States of America.

Charles Billich

www.billich.com                                         +61 2 9252 1481

25th Anniversary Thank You from Christa and Charles

To our wonderful friends and sponsors, Our most humble thank you for supporting us over the past 25 years and bringing joy to our lives.

Billich Gallery’s celebrated it’s 25th year, last night. We had stunning wine from Pepper Tree, darling cup cakes from Cupcake Princess, Ferrero Rocher Chocolates, canapés by Food Affair and Sydney’s finest most sophisticated guests! 

Bravo!! Our most fabulous friends!! We love you!!

Christa and Charles Billich

From Lyricism to Billichism

Article written by Dr. Jean-François VERNAY, editor and publisher.

Drawing upon Greco-Roman motives, Charles Billich can be described as a classicist with a quasi encyclopaedic knowledge. At times his paintings are surrealistic (1), impressionistic or even photo-realistic. His recent works are so accurate in their compositions that his poetry of details and the sense of place he captures on his canvases are to some extent reminiscent of the works of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Turning to age-old history, Charles Billich has shifted his focus on the East. His quite recent work exhibited in Xi’an (Shaanxi Province) to celebrate Beijing’s successful bid for the 2008 Olympics is inspired by the Bing Ma Yong Terracotta Warriors. This cycle of paintings, where East meets West, combines ancient history with the contemporary prowess of Olympic athletes, bellicosity and artistry. Thanks to this admixture of tradition and modernity, of 21^st century sportsmanship and 384BC Qin Dynasty craftsmanship, Charles has captured the essence of the Olympic spirit. Reaching far beyond all self-imposed limits, the China series celebrates human potential as well as human achievement by displaying all the qualities required to achieve any physical feat: concentration, precision, willpower and velocity. Billich is a sports artist who manages to give his subjects both mobility and nobility.

A citizen of the world, Charles “feels at home wherever [his] canvas is”, though he sometimes craves for a change of horizons to explore another civilisation, new mores and lore. He roams across the seven seas in constant search for new themes and concepts to fuel the reservoir of his creativity. A remarkable polyglot (speaking over seven languages fluently, five of which he learnt when he served his jail term), he masters English with such expressiveness and playfulness that his florid style and word coinage proclivity (which produce fine instances of Billichism) always capture a mesmerised audience while showcasing his poetic bent.

Charles Billich is no poet of the banal. In his work, you will find no evocation of the monotony of daily routine, no faces deeply lined with toil, no deserted streets and socialising premises, quite the contrary: crowd-packed horse-racing tracks, unblemished bodies, special occasions such as festive events, you name it. In a synoptic attempt to synthetise Charles Billich’s opus, we could say that his style is to visual arts what lyricism is to literature – namely life-enhancing.

In this respect, the artist’s driving force is bombast and grandeur. His paintings remain ideals of perfection (Meliora sequamur could even be his motto), dreamlike utopias, if not testimonies of glory and magnificence, which reveal a lot regarding his optimistic and even sublimating outlook on life. Like his ever oversized glasses, his flamboyant attitude, his extravaganzas, his imagination-packed pranks, he seeks to deflate the effect of our mundane life by adding majesty to our daily routine. As Charles Billich has it, “What is the fate of figurative art in a transphotographic world? To do things the camera cannot do, or can at best unconvincingly do through dark room tricks.” Some commentators, like Ooi Kok Chuen, went as far as to say that the “happy, glorious pictures” seem “to cauterise the pain [Charles experienced in his youth] and to celebrate the freedom” he once lost when jailed “on suspicion of his anti-communist leanings as interpreted in his writings for newspapers and magazines.”

Charles Billich’s pictorial production shows an impressive palette of themes and genres, from surrealist landscapes to glamorous cityscapes, from portraiture to an extensive selection of erotica, from sports and games to Oriental motives, not to mention his political interpretations of history or his religious scenes. However, whatever theme he tackles, the lyrical painter invariably celebrates life in all possible forms such as action, aesthetics, national heritage or even history. To a certain degree, his creations also enable him to face death serenely as his oeuvre will undoubtedly outlive him – Vita brevis, ars longa, as the saying goes. Life to Charles is but a game from which he wishes to come out an eternal victor. His ultimate – if not sole – challenge to life would be to defeat transience, to defeat the tempus fugit pace of our earthly world, to defeat death and the ravages of time. But then, even if Charles strives to win the day over the years, he would certainly be aware that time and tide waits for no man.

Bionote: Dr. Jean-François VERNAY, a former editor and publisher, has written commendable books on Australian culture. His latest release is The Great Australian Novel – A Panorama (Melbourne: Brolga, 2010).

Letter From Hell 2

Dear Charles,

It’s been a Hell of a month!

Not so much that Lucifer went back on his word and reduced my comp time maliciously, rather it’s the frenzy around Gaddafi’s impending arrival!

Everybody is frying to make it the event he deserves!  New fireworks have been designed by Lucifer’s expert special effect team.  But do not expect pretty pyrotechnics a la Sydney Harbour on New Year.  They are seriously intended to scorch that murderous megalomaniac.  I nearly lost my own life when I visited Libya on my ocean liner “Galeb” way back in the 1970’s.  Yes, the fireworks, the state reception, the renta-crowds, the lucullian banquets with mountains of delicacies, the speeches acknowledging my brainchild “League of the Non-Allied”.

It was all spoiled , unwittingly, by Gaddafi, always the sleaze,  when he

well-intendingly sent a trio of sex-bombson board.  Two were Russian and one Belarus.  The gift was never consummated as my wife Jovanka was watching me like a hawk, not to mention my barely tolerated favourite masseuses Biba and Duba!  Later I became privy to intelligence that the Soviet beauties would have emasculated me!  This was  at the time of Brezhnev, the President of the USSR, who never forgave me for separating from the Soviets and establishing my own, albeit smaller Yugoslav Empire!  Having escaped narrowly death, I decided in favour of caution and loyalty, well, at least to three women.

Besides, some bodily dysfunctions were sadly already in progress and not even hotly dedicated Marxist NKVD whores would have helped erect Little Tito.

But back to Hell!…

Preparations for creative thermic tortures are now accelerating as none other than Asama Bin Laden is joining the Terrorist Circle of Hell.  There are no denominational  distinctions here, exacerbating the pain of many unecumenical extremists. Imagine a Muslim burning together with a Jew!  And with women! On the other hand, scores of terrorist are looking forward to rub shoulders with Osama, but more about that later, as there is a queue of thousands (yet another torture) waiting to use the computer, so I must leave it for now.

Just one last thing…

I’m so proud of you Charles to be involved with the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, with His official portrait for all Christians to enjoy in their worship!  I am so grateful to Pope John Paul for having inspired the collapse of the most pestilential system ever devised by man, Soviet Communism, which, sorry to say, I helped construct.

I have noticed your unwillingness to answer my mail. I do not blame you.

I feel one day you’ll find it in your heart to send me a line, which to me would be a life-line.

Keep on praying and painting, I guess to you it’s all the same!

Josip Groz Tito

It’s our 25th Aniversary @ Billich Gallery

It’s the BILLICH GALLERY’S 25th

One accumulates lots of ideas in 25 years, a lot of pictures, moments of joy, some tears.

One has travelled, in 25 years, millions of miles

To find a lot of sadness, injustice, yet many smiles.

Quarter of a century, eternity to a child, a blink of an eye to the curious – and wild!

Australia and the world, religion and sports, the human figure, themes and passions of all sorts have moved Billich, his skills and his tools to paint artfully, respectfully, yet breaking some rules.

He’s where he is due to friends, collectors and his Team who won’t allow him to ever run out of steam.