Wall composition with 43 different portraits (2003)
This frieze of 1200 m2 shows us a contemporary and metaphorical representation of the multicultural influences and relations in Belgium from an artistic point of view. Johan Muyle’s aim is to “depict his generation”. The composition of murals painted on the walls of the bus station are inspired by the model of the classic composition: a central subject that is brought to the fore by adding other characters around it. One of the friezes evokes the classic theme of the beheaded martyr, the other recalls the parable of the blind. The connecting thread is the promise of a miracle. The term “miracle” must be understood in a non-religious way, meaning for the artist that humans take charge of their own destiny. The disproportion between the landscapes painted in the background and the portraits in the foreground create a play with contrasts and scale. The characters, who look like giants to the passengers, become Lilliputians in their oversized surroundings
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JOHAN MUYLE (Montigny-sur-Sambre, 1956)
Muyle is an artist with an international reputation, who lives and works in Liège. He represents plastic arts in Belgium, thanks to his regular exhibitions in European galleries, museums and art centres in Europe, but also via his participation in international fairs and biennales. Johan Muyle is a great fan of construction materials, and he happily uses objects from building sites in different forms in his works of art. In 1994 he went to the Congo for the first time, where he made craft objects with children. He went on to use these objects in his assemblages. He achieved international fame from 1998 onwards, when he presented “We don’t know him from Heden” at the Sao Paolo Biannual. Since then, private and international exhibitions have followed in.
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