ARTE - Section Liège-BELGIQUE

General information

Born on 15/12/56 at Montignies sur Sambre (Charleroi), Belgium.
Address : 15, rue Fassin, Bressoux (Liège)
Tel.: 04 95 22 08 87

Education

After studying arts at a secondary school, Johan Muyle attended the fine arts school of La Cambre (Brussels), which he soon left on account of divergent artistic opinions. Indeed he felt he was very far from the conceptual perceptive adopted in their teaching. He then graduated in the fine arts at the Institut Marie-Thérèse in Liège.

Professional activities

A sculptor to the core, Johan Muyle also teaches at the Academy of Art of Valenciennes and collaborates on the creation of theatre and film sets as well as décor for publicity. He is now working on the creation of carnival floats.

Main personal exhibitions since 1995

1999 : Disgrace, The George Rodger Gallery, KIAD, Maidstone (GB).
Disgrace, The Herbert Read Gallery, KIAD, Canterbury (GB).
Que el mundi tenga su perdida, Centro Wifredo Lam, Cuba.
Disgrace, The University of Brighton Gallery, Brighton (GB).
Quand les jours meilleurs se font attendre, Coeur St Lambert, Liège (B).
1998 : Loin s'en faut, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes (F).
We don't know him from Eden, Biennale de Sao Paulo (Brésil).
1997 : Holyworld, Atelier de la Ville de Marseille, Marseille (F).
Promis, juré, Galerie de Paris, Paris (F).
Heureusement que la pensée est muette, Centre Nicolas de Staël, Braine l'Alleud (B).
Des nuées de scrupules, Médiathèque de Trith Saint Léger (F).
Les sourires d'une longue patience, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bruxelles (B)
La mort viendra et elle aura tes yeux, L'Hippodrome, Douai (F).
1995 : Chacun son destin, avec Ch. Samba, Foire d'Art Actuel, Galerie Belinelli, Bruxelles (B).
Qu'il ait décidé de vivre une autre vie, Espace Mariani, Solre-le-Château (F).
Manneken Flipske 1er, costume placé le 15 décembre, Bruxelles (B).

Main collective exhibitions

36 expositions dont :
1999 : L'énervé de Jumièges "Petits arrangements", FRAC Loire, La Ferté-Bernard (F).
La vie en rose "Demeures", Musée Zadkine, Paris (F).
Angèle et Angelo, "Acquisitions oeuvres contemporaines de la Communauté française", Musée d'Art Moderne, Liège (B).
Quand soufflent les vents du Sud, Décembre 99 - Janvier 2000, Musée Saint-Georges, Liège (B)

Exhibitions, publications, collections

Installation : "Nous ne le connaissons ni d'Eve ni d'Eden ", 1998
Peinture sur toile marouflée, ampoules de couleur…

......

Installation : " Plutôt la honte ", 1996
Peinture sur toile marouflée sur panneau, motorisation, éléments électroniques, câbles, eau, polyester…

"La vie en rose", 450 x 310 x 140 cm, 1998
Peinture sur toile marouflée sur panneau, motorisation, éléments électroniques, câbles, eau, polyester…

Artistic approach

Recent works

Since 1995 J. Muyle has stayed regularly in Madras (India) and has been working in collaboration with local painters who have specialised in the realisation of "Cine Banners", monumental film posters.
His latest works, large busts painted in the style of "Cine Banners" , rather kitsch, put together various artistic disciplines: painting, installation, sculpture, photography and even kinetic art. They are realised with acrylic paint on canvas re-mounted on wooden backings, with photographs, texts, music, light effects; they are activated by various mechanisms, sometimes complex ones (engines, pulleys, axles), moving the lips, rolling their eyes, moving the bust forward or with jets of water shooting into a drop-shaped basin. For this Johan Muyle is assisted by Indian or French teams whose tasks he co-ordinates.
In his latest works all the keys of the artist's plastic language can be found: the contrast between the anonymity of the painted faces (self-portrait or portraits of friends of the painter's), the signs of star-making that are used (style, calligraphy, format), diverted texts (play on words).
All those supports converge on a reflection on the responsibility and humility of the human condition, perceived in a play and humorous manner.

The influence of the Indian popular culture is important. This is evidenced by the size of the posters, their kitsch aspect, the presence of sequins, the calligraphy that is used on the canvases.