Bijijoo (b. 1975) is an artist and musician based in Asheville, North Carolina. He began studying oil painting and music as a child and has since explored a wide range of creative practices, including abstract and figurative painting, mixed-media art, sculpture, conceptual and performance art, animation, writing, and experimental music. His artistic practice is informed by an interdisciplinary background in mathematics, physics, computer science, including a Ph.D. in biophysics.
Bijijoo’s work often originates from an internal process of reflection, exploring themes of transformation, metaphysics, symbolism, mysticism, and the search for meaning. His practice is continually evolving through experimentation with materials, techniques, imagery, and visual languages. He is particularly interested in the space where seemingly disparate systems, such as scientific, symbolic, emotional, and intuitive, can intersect in work that exists between the rational and intuitive, the familiar and strange, the cute and the horrifying.
A major influence on his work is his young daughter whose uninhibited approach to creativity and imagination continually exposes him to new ways of seeing and making. Her interests in contemporary visual culture, anime, manga, and popular culture have also become an influential part of his artistic vocabulary.
Bijijoo’s work has been exhibited internationally, including exhibitions at Saatchi Yates in London, Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles, and VINS Gallery in Taipei. His work is held in private collections around the world.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Chemistry (Biophysics), Portland State University (2008)
Mathematics Graduate Studies, University of Washington (2000-2002)
Bachelor’s degree, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Hunter College (CCNY) (2000)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Oct - Nov 2026: Smile! (group show), MEPAINTSME
Sept 2025: Group Show, Saatchi Yates, London
Sept 2025: Fandom (group show), Bad Art Presents, London
July 2025: MPM/IRL (group show), MEPAINTSME, New York, NY
June 2025: Solo Show, VINS Gallery, Taipei
Sept. 2024: Solo Show, Tinimini Room curated by Marian Cramer, Netherlands
July/Aug. 2024: Solo Show, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles
March- May 2023: Solo Show, Saatchi Yates, London
Oct. 2022: Solo Show, Lorin Gallery, Los Angeles
July 2022: Group Show, Artual Gallery, Beirut
June 2022: Solo Show, Villazan, Madrid
Feb. 2022: Group Show, Cohle Gallery , Paris, France
Dec. 2021: Solo Show, VINS Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.
Nov 2021: Group Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
Sept. 2021: D’Arte (group show), Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
May 2021: Duo show with Vickie Vainionpää , GR Gallery, New York, NY.
Sept. 2020: LIMBO (group show), Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium.
June 2013: Bugs, Holes, Heads, and How-tos (solo show), Good: A Gallery, Portland, OR.
April 2012: The Anthropod Companion (solo show), Antler Gallery, Portland, OR.
Feb. 2011: The Presidential Ham (solo show), The Basil Hallward Gallery, Portland, OR.
SELECTED PRESS
PRETTY UGLY: A Visual World of the Wonderfully Weird, Victionary, 2025
Bijijoo Finds “Home,” JUXTAPOZ, July 2024
Interview with Mepaintsme, June 2024
Bijijoo: Creatures Born from Chaos, Metal Magazine, May 2023
INTERVIEW: BIJIJOO BRINGS HIS VIRAL, OTHERWORLDLY WORLD OF MONSTERS TO SAATCHI YATES, Hypebae, March 2023
Inside the Weird and Wonderful World of Bijijoo, Creative Review, March 2023
TIKTOK SENSATION BIJIJOO TO OPEN SHOW AT SAATCHI YATES, Fad Magazine, March 2023
7 Questions for Bijijoo, the Artistic Polymath Whose Colorful, TikTok-Famous Works Make Their London Debut This Week, Artnet, March 2023
“Bijijoo is the ultimate creative maverick. His monsters get their surreal shapes and textures from the artist’s playful approach to mixing media. His constant experimenting leads to innovative combinations of traditional and digital techniques. Bijijoo has had an uncontrollable artistic drive since childhood. He has experimented with most forms of art from writing and composing to shooting video. Eventually he returned to painting and found his creative signature after being inspired by his daughter’s imagination and love for monsters. Using his technical background in mathematics, physics and computer science Bijijoo uses process-driven experimentation to endlessly create and combine new techniques.” – Studio Visit with Avant Arte, Aug. 2022
“The paintings of BijiJoo are created by so many techniques and mediums that it is dizzying; a result of planning, experience, and a child-like playfulness that borders on a total loss of control.” – Hi-Fructose Magazine (IG), May 2022
Party Monster Arrives: Bijijoo @ Vins Gallery, Taipei JUXTAPOZ, Jan. 2022
Manifest: BIJIJOO, Calvin Wong, Emily Casares, and Skyler Simpson, JUXTAPOZ, Nov. 2021
Digital Spirit: Bijijoo and Vickie Vainionpää @ GR Gallery, JUXTAPOZ, June 2021
“The painted inside out world of @bijijoo is strange, cartoon-y, and intestinal-y, or perhaps more like a sugar-crashing herniated eye ball. It all depends what you had for breakfast.” – Hi-Fructose Magazine (IG), July 2020
The Art Out There, David Carmack Lewis, March 20, 2013
Hail to the Presidential Ham, Willamette Week, Feb. 2, 2011
15 Portraits of Presidents with Ham, Salon.com, Nov. 10, 2010
A Man, A Plan, Some Hams: Bijijoo?, Paste Magazine, July 14, 2010