Bijijoo in Saatchi Yeats
March 16 – May 28, 2023
14 Bury Street
St. James
London SW1Y6AL
Saachi Yeats is proud to present the inaugural solo exhibition of the American TikTok sensation Michael Todd Horn – Known as Bijiju with a selection of new works delving into his personal world of monsters and heroes which has made him a cult following since he joined the platform in March 2021. A zoo-like array of large-scale paintings sees amorphous, color-drenched monsters appear at Saatchi Yates, some with an unsettling glee reminiscent of the wonder and horror experienced to a stranger in childhood. Irregular in their gait and proportions, they teeter on the edges of the canvas and tap into nostalgia.
Courtesy of Saatchi Yates
Bijijoo’s paintings are the result of process-driven experimentation with drawing media and automatic drawing using traditional and digital techniques. He builds mixed media layers to enhance the interplay of light, color and texture. Images are created out of chaos, in a process similar to divination. The forms that take shape refer to man and animals: grotesque exaggerations of life, monstrous caricatures, vanitas. Narratives emerge through these interactions, reflecting struggle, celebration and introspection. The results depict experiences, interactions and movements frozen in personal space and time.
Courtesy of Saatchi Yates
In his practice, Bijijoo makes innovative contributions to the artistic fields of figuration, abstraction and digital, weaving his lifelong passion for drawing and painting with his technical studies in mathematics, physics, computer science and chemistry, culminating in a PhD in Biophysics in 2008 d. However, at the heart of his work is the inspiration he draws from his daughter’s imagination and love of monsters.
Through meticulously framed, step-by-step photos of his painting processes, Bijijo’s TikTok videos convey the physicality of his work, accompanied by ASMR-inducing sound editing and self-composed electronic music.
©2023 Bijijoo
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