Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Origin
16 October - 30 November 2013
Foreword
Text by Jessica Warren
Johan Van Mullems painted works in ink on board are deeply personal
creations that depict imagined portraits, figures, and characters from the
artists subconscious. In his body of work, Van Mullem explores the
evocative possibilities of ink, and its capacity for depth and meaning with
an impressive sense of honesty and sincerity. Richly coloured pigments
flow into and around each other, leaving wisps of smoke in place of brush
strokes, and bestowing the works with an anthropomorphic quality. The
materials appear to be reacting and interacting with each other long after the
artists brush has been removed. It is this combination of a unique approach
to medium and a conscious method of painting that recasts Van Mullems
portraits as otherworldly apparitions. While these figurative transmutations
appear throughout Van Mullems oeuvre, it is only with Origin that we are
finally presented with the most stripped-back version of his artistic vision.
The works on show are best described as a prequel to Van Mullems
earlier series, Movements of the Soul (2011-2012). Where older works depicted
figures in a more traditional sense - still dream-like and ephemeral, yet
retaining a certain tangibility - these new paintings explore the concept of
the beginning in the most literal sense. As a result, we see the introduction
of figures with multiple faces, where atoms replace features, and sweeping
brushstrokes give way to profiles that appear to be infinitely moving. The
individual lines and strokes that make up these figures move towards
abstraction not in the sense of nothingness, but rather in the sense that the
apparent deconstruction of these figures symbolizes the very molecules that
make them up and allow them to exist. Van Mullems focus on movement
is best explained by his desire to connect the past with the future as a way
of illustrating the perpetual force of energy that is so crucial to his painted
subjects.
SANS TITRE
Mixed media on board
140cm x 180cm, 2013
VMULJ-0530
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
180cm x 140cm, 2013
VMULJ-0528
SANS TITRE
Mixed media on board
140cm x 180cm, 2013
VMULJ-0634
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
140cm x 100cm, 2013
VMULJ-0674
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
100cm x 70cm, 2013
VMULJ-0606
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
100cm x 70cm, 2013
VMULJ-0608
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
200cm x 140cm, 2013
VMULJ-0650
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0587
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
100cm x 140cm, 2013
VMULJ-0631
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
140cm x 100cm, 2013
VMULJ-0626
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
140cm x 100cm, 2013
VMULJ-0622
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
140cm x 100cm, 2013
VMULJ-0628
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0548
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0550
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0581
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0551
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0572
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0553
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
011331
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
011358
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0540
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
60cm x 40cm, 2013
VMULJ-0656
SANS TITRE
Ink on board
Each 30cm x 20cm, 2013
VMULJ-0661, VMULJ-0658, VMULJ-0660, VMULJ-0659
Biography
1959
Born in Isiro, Democratic
Republic of the Congo
1978-1985
lInstitut Suprieur
dArchitecture
1990-1991
Ecole des Arts dIxelles,
section Gravure, atelier de
Ccile Massart et Anne Kellens
2011
2012
2012
Hus Gallery,
Gstaad, Switzerland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010
Galerie 29, Belgium
Art Gallery 826,
Knokke, Belgium
SOLO EXHIBITONS
2010
t Contemporain
Dracenois, France
Chapelle de Boondael,
Brussels, Belgium
Kunstgalerij Anarto,
Belgium
2011
Hus Gallery &