MILENA KUNZ-BIJNO

Milena Kunz-Bijno’s oeuvre is an interplay of both non-objective art and naturalistic components. Especially in her mixed media works and collages she combines seemingly contradictory techniques and finds her own style.
Deeply connected with her own biography, she implements elements of different cultures and their spiritual views in her paintings and sculptures. Born in Italy, the artist came to Germany, her chosen home, at the age of 21, after marrying a German diplomat. The marriage not only paved the way for her to study art in Bonn and London, but also took her on journeys all around the world.
For her, the frequent changes of location were not always easy but incredibly enriching. – She had the opportunity to get to know people and cultures, to build bridges. During that time she was able to sharpen her own view of the world and to broaden her horizons while getting to know her own spirituality. Kunz-Bijno travelled in “classical” Europe from Italy, to Germany and England, through France, to faraway
South America and India. Especially her stay in India would have a deep influence on her work. Several series of works are dedicated solely to “her” India and how she perceived it.

She skillfully combines apparent opposites and unites them into a whole. Themes such as the contrast between “Eastern” and “Western”, light and dark accompany Milena Kunz-Bijno throughout her work. The theme of “light” draws like a red line through her pictures and the texts often attached to them. Her works want to show ways to the inside, want to be an expression of the eternal longing of man for light and God and spirituality. The question of where from and where to is reflected again and again.
Kunz-Bijno portrays herself as an artist who transcends boundaries – metaphorically by questioning opposites, faith and being, and physically by her permanent relocation and traveling.

WORKS

Nudes

Acrylic and mixed techniques

La Musica

Note pictures and sculptures

Angels and others

Spiritual works

Mare

Exhibitions

1965 Redoute, Bonn (GER)
1967 Chemould Art Gallery, Bombay (IND)
1968 Artist’s Center, Bombay (IND)
1972 Galérie St. Feréol, Marseille (FRA)
1974 Redoute, Bonn (GER)
1978 Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Bogota (COL)
1978 Pinturas (Paintings), Galeria Buchholz, Bogota (COL)
1980 Le Tableau, Turin (ITA)
1981 Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus, Bonn (GER)
1984 Kreishaus, Siegburg (GER)
1989 Frammenti (Fragments) ,Libreria Levrotto e Bella, Turin (ITA)
1989 Wanderung durch die Zeit (Walking through time), Rathaus, Bad Honnef (GER)
1989 FARBEN (und) ZEICHEN (Colours (and) Signs), Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus, Bonn (GER)
1990 Milena Kunz-Bijno – Malerei, Rathaus, Neunkirchen Seelscheid (GER)
1990 Christian Chapel, Museum of Religions, Puttnaparthi (IND)
1991 Und es war Licht (And there was light), Stadthaus, Bonn (GER)
1992 Il Libro (The book), Liberia Levretto e Bella, Turin (ITA)
1993 Milena Kunz-Bijno, Parlamentarische Gesellschaft, Bonn (GER)
1995 BlauTöne (Blue tones), Rathaus, Bad Honnef (GER)
1997 Il Ballo in Maschera (Masks and Music), Manoel Theatre, Valletta (MLT)
1998 Lines of Light, National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta (MLT)
1999 Installation The Path of the Dervish, Museum of Modern Art, Cairo (EGY)
1999 WEGE (PATHS), Galerie L’Angelo, Bad Honnef (GER)
2000 La Clessidra (The Hourglass), Frauenmuseum, Bonn (GER)
2000 Europäisches Patentgericht, Munich (GER)
2001 Angels in the Silent City, Cathedral Museum, Mdina (MLT)
2002 Milena Kunz-Bijno, Kunstverein Bad Godesberg e.V., Bad Godesberg, (GER)
2002 Das Wort (The Word), Galerie L’Angelo, Bad Honnef (GER)
2003 Unterwegs – Bilder einer Lebensreise (On the road – pictures of a livejourney), Auswärtiges Amt – Aus- und Fortbildungsstätte, Bonn (GER)
2003 Zwischen Himmel und Erde, Akademie der deutschen Telekom, Bonn (GER)
2003 Universitätsclub, Bonn (GER)
2004 Galerie l’Angelo, Bad Honnef (GER)
2005 Galleria La Fontana, Trevignano Romano (ITA)
2006 Les Visages de l’Inde (Faces of India), Centre Culturel – Christiane Peugeot, Paris (FRA)
2007 Les Visages de l’Inde (Faces of India), European Parliament, Luxembourg (LUX)
2008 I passi della vita (The steps of live), Galerie L’Angelo, Bad Honnef (GER)
2009 Alchemie des Glücks (Alchemie of Happiness), Rathaus, Bad Honnef (GER)
2011 Farbklänge (Colours and Sounds), Musikstudio und Galerie: Gabriele Paqué, Bonn (GER)
2012 Reise nach Indien (Jorurney to India), Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus, Bonn (GER)
2012 Rückblicke – Malerei (Retrospective – Paintings), Kunstraum, Bad Honnef (GER)
2013 Lichtwege (Lightpaths), Evangelisches Zentrum für Diakonie und Bildung, Siegburg (GER)
2013 Lichtwege (Lightpaths), Johanniterkrankenhaus, Bonn (GER)
2014 Nel blu dipinto di blu, Sala Communale, Polignano a Mare (ITA)
2014 Una valigia dall’India, Circolo degli Artisti, Turin (ITA)
2015 Tutte le dimensioni della pace – Le strade della pace (All dimensions of peace – the roads of peace), Torre Normanna, Cisternino (ITA)
2015 Spuren aus Papier und Ton (Traces of paper and clay), Bürgerverein Rhöndorf, Bad Honnef (GER)
2015 Flüchtlinge … (Refugees), Rathaus, Bad Honnef (GER)
2016 Herbstfarben (Autumn Colours), Heimatstube, Bad Honnef- Rhöndorf (GER)
2017 Bilder einer Lebensreise, Haus an der Redoute, Bonn – Bad Godesberg (GER)
2018 Arte in Consolato: Le lettere ritrovate – Über die Zeit hinaus (Art in Consolate: Found letters – beyonf time), Italienisches Generalkonsulat, Cologne (GER)
2019 Lichtwege – Weltreligionen im Dialog mit Ostern (Lightpaths- Worldreligions in dialog with Easter), Ortsverein Rhöndorf, Bad Honnef (GER)
2020 Zu Ehren Beethovens – Eine Sammelausstellung (In Beethoven’s Honours – a group exhibition), Musikstudio und Galerie: Gabriele Paqué, Bonn (GER)

Memberships

Community of German and Austrian Associations of Women Artists of all Arts (Gedok), Bonn (GER)
Federal Association of Visual Artists (BBK), Bonn (GER)
Promotrice delle belle arti, Turin (ITA)
Society of fine arts and commerce, Valletta (MLT)

Awards

1997 Malta Biennale First Price in Category Installation
1999 Malta Biennale Special Award for Installation