Glazed enamelled steel plates + tiles
The photo compositions on enamelled sheet metal emphasise the pacifist character of Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus Roterdamus, Rotterdam 1469 – Basel 1536), his successive travels through Europe and his devotion to education and the great thinkers of Europe. Even while he still lived, Erasmus was already known as the “Prince of Humanists”. The project in Erasmus metro station also contains, other than illustrations and photo compositions, many of Erasmus’s mottos, translated into different European languages. “Festina Lente”, which means “Hurry slowly”, also served as the perfect title for this work. Almost all the ceramic tiles are in “Delft blue”, a colour which was developed after 18 months of research with the ceramics firm Cerafrance. Erasumus’s adagia (mottos) are engraved with a laser over an area of 184 m2. 49 tiles are decorated with hand-painted motifs. Finally, over a surface of 350 m2, images were reproduced by serigraphy on panels in enamelled glazed steel plating. The project took almost three years to complete.
TwitterList of links
MICHEL MOUFFE (Bruxelles, 1957)
One of Michel Mouffe’s personal exhibitions was called “En s’occupant d’Erasme...zorgen voor Erasmus” (Looking after Erasmus). So it is not surprising that the artist was asked to decorate the interior of the metro station of the same name. He has put on exhibitions of plastic art in Asia, the US and Europe and has published essays such as “Petit dialogue avec l’Ange” (Publisher: Tandem, 2001) in which he explains the essence of his approach. Michel Mouffe likes things which are unique, which do not comply with a predefined plan. His paintings are abstract, monochrome and always consist of a few geometrical lines. This Brussels artist often applies paint in a very fine layer. In order to do this, he first dips the canvas into a bath of colour before reworking it by hand. Michel Mouffe is different from other abstract artists in that he places a metal bow behind each canvas which puts the painting under pressure. In this way, the canvases swell up in the direction of the observer.
FOTO
