Two facing high-reliefs in painted and enamelled tubes (1978)
This piece refers to metro traffic. Round steel tubes in bright colours and of different densities evoke the tram lines, and remind us that Botanique used to operate as a pre-metro station. The technical development is mainly based on the modular association and the curve of the steel tubes, which have a diameter of 6 cm. Light blue, navy blue, light green, white, yellow, orange and red are very much in evidence. The work of art has two titles: “Tramification fluide/Tramification syncopée” (Fluid tramification, Syncopated Tramification), which is logical given that the structural elements in stainless steel both reflect - with two different rhythms - the unique character of the two ensembles that face each other. The steel was treated with enamel in an oven in order to increase its resistance to impacts and to facilitate maintenance.
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EMILE SOUPLY (1933 – 2013)
He trained as a goldsmith and silversmith and in the copperware trade at the Ecole des Métiers d’art (Art Professions School) in Maredsous and devoted himself to designing jewellery in various different materials, statues in silver and large-scale sculptures. Emile Souply searches for solutions to make artistic creations from the excesses of industrialisation and functionalism. From the 1960s onwards, he began to integrate industrial products and techniques into his works: aluminium, glass, Perspex and oxidised, stainless and coloured steel. He also designed and created furniture and small sculptures and jewellery, often with a touch of humour. Emile Souply has participated in many different international biennials and triennials. He also designed the railings for the ex-BBL (ING) building in Brussels, the large steel and textile wall relief for the Hilton hotel in Brussels and a sculpture in glass and mirror glass for the Belgian pavilion at the Montreal world exhibition in 1967.
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