Johan Van Mullem (Belgian painter born in 1959) persisted in his youthful search for wrinkled faces, seeking the beauty he recognized in an experience engraved on the faces and in the hands. Since then, the face remains the major subject of his work but over time reversing the imprint of it on his own face while these subjects seem to rejuvenate, disappearing or emerging in a halo of light in an old-fashioned sfumato, offering the gaze an escape into the world of emotion, because Johan van Mullem's work is an invitation to introspection, to a journey whose omnipresent emotional charge cannot leave indifferent as the depth is often dizzying. The superimposition and erasure of the very many smooth layers of the diluted inks further accentuates this feeling of inexpressible presence on the canvas. The self-taught mastery of the specific and unique technicality of his work because only executed in etching ink (an extension of his experience as an engraver) gives his work an additional exceptional character. Complete artist, designer, painter and sculptor, (but also poet and musician) Johan Van Mullem strives to create a multiple, diverse but absolutely coherent work offering links and bridges to all our senses awakened by this work that projects as much into the past as into a contemporaneity.
Johan's work has been exhibited internationally and can be found in many important collections
Solo Exhibitions
2023 For Love's S(nake) . Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts . Bruxelles ( BE ) . march
2022 ATARAXIE . Loo & Lou Gallery . Paris ( FR ) . fev
2019 APNEA . GR Gallery. New York ( US ) . nov
2019 REVERENCE . Unit London . London ( GB ) . march
2018 Bleu Topique . Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins. Mougins ( FR ). nov
2017 3 Espaces, 3 Univers . LOO & Lou Gallery . Paris ( FR ). march
2016 GALERIE DUCHOZE . Rouen ( FR ) . oct
2016 DE ANIMA . the UNIT LONDON . London ( UK ) . dec
2016 Espace B . Glabais ( BEL ) . nov
2016 MUSEE D'IXELLES . Brussels ( BEL ) . oct
2015 Face à Face . Galerie SCHWAB BEAUBOURG . Paris ( FR ) . sept
2015 Fiat Lux . Hus Gallery . London ( UK ) . june
2014 MUSEE D'IXELLES. acquisition d'une oeuvre . sept
2014 Meta Morphoses . MACADAM Gallery . Bruxelles ( BEL ) . oct
2014 C24 Gallery . New York ( USA ) . jan
2013 Origin. Hus Gallery . London ( UK ). oct
2012 Andipa & Hus Gallery . London ( UK ) . nov
2011 Hus Gallery . London ( UK ) . jun
2011 Arthus Gallery . Brussels ( BEL ) . sept
2010 Chapelle de Boondael . Brussels ( BEL ) . may
2010 Anarto . Anvers ( BEL ) .nov
Group Exhibitions
2022 "RECUEIL Chapitre I" . Galerie B . Durbuy ( BEL ) . mars
2021 Back to life . GR Gallery . New York ( USA ) . june
2021 "When photos spy the paintings" . Galerie B. Durbuy ( BEL ) . may
2019 Festival Damme . Damme ( BEL ) . sept
2019 iide - International Interior Design Exhibition . Bruxelles ( BEL ) . sept
2019 BENJAMIN ECK PROJECTS . Munich ( DE ) . jan
2017 L'expressionisme contemporain en France et ses marges . Kaunas ( LIT ) . nov
2017 Abstract X ed # 2 . Aeroplastics . Bruxelles ( BEL ) . june
2017 Abstract X ed # 1 . Aeroplastics . Bruxelles ( BEL ) . apr
2017 ART PARIS ART FAIR . with LOO & LOU GALLERY . apr
2016 ART'UP ROUEN . Rouen ( FR ) . oct
2016 drawing rooms#2 . PAK GISTEL ( BEL) . sept
2016 This is not a landscape . PAK GISTEL ( BEL ) . may
2016 Créations Belges . MAZEL GALERIE . Bruxelles ( BEL ) . feb
2015 8 ème Avenue . Paris ( FR ) . oct
2015 Mosaïques . Pont Sainte Marie ( FR ) . oct
2015 Kantfabriek . Vilvoorde ( BEL ) . sept
2015 ART'UP with Macadam gallery . Lille ( FR ) . feb
2014 SAO - PAULO International Art Fair with Hus Gallery . ( BZL ) . apr
2014 DALLAS Art Fair with Hus Gallery . ( USA ) . apr
2014 Paysagistes contemporains, autour de Nehlich. Galerie Schwab Beaubourg . Paris ( FR ) .
2013 BRAFA with Sem-Art . Brussels ( BEL ) . jan
2012 Hus Gallery . Gstaad ( CH ) . feb
2011 Lineart Gent with Macadam gallery . Gent ( BEL ) . feb
2011 Art Fair London with Hus gallery . London ( UK ) . oct
2011 Sem-Art & Hus Gallery . Monaco ( MO ) . may
2010 Lille Art Fair with Macadam gallery . Lille ( FR ) . may
2010 Art Gallery 826 . nokke ( BEL ) . may
2010 AAF Paris with Art gallery 826 . Paris ( FR ) . may
2010 été Contemporain Dracenois . Draguignan ( FR ) . aug
2010 AAF London with Art Gallery 826 . London ( UK ) . oct