Johan van Mullem: Movements of the Soul

Associated media

1–24 November 2012

For nearly 50 years, since the age of five, Belgian figurative artist Johan van Mullem (b.1959), has been drawing and painting faces. It is a subject that has absorbed his attention and created a continuity during a childhood nomadic life, travelling from country to country, the son of a diplomat father.

Today, after a career as an architect, Van Mullem has taken his love of painting to a professional level and with meteoric success. In his first major London show, a collaboration between Hus Gallery and Andipa Gallery, his lifelong love and practice of portraiture is explored in ‘Movements of the Soul’, an exhibition of 33 works.

The artist seeks to investigate ‘a visual exploration of the mind as a captive of the body’, and portraiture identifies the category of Van Mullem’s work but not the expressionist application of his rich colour palette, in ink on board. Faces are glimpsed through swirls of reds and golds, in form and colour that are reminiscent of Rembrandt’s later works. The artist’s drawings reveal a pattern of character, building faces without creating a particular identity. Van Mullem does not use a live model to draw from and every work is the result of his imagination. The bold canvases are arresting in their emotional imagery. The drawings display Van Mullem’s masterful touch with pen and ink.

On display until 24 November at Andipa Gallery,
162 Walton Street, London SW3 2JL

Open: Monday–Friday 9.30 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 11a.m.–6 p.m.