05.03 – 09.03.2025
Madrid, Spain

Johan Van Mullem & Pierre-Luc Poujol

 
For the second time in a row, Loo and Lou return to the Art Madrid contemporary art fair for its 2025 edition! The works on display combine the worlds of Johan Van Mullem and Pierre-Luc Poujol.

JOHAN VAN MULLEM
Johan Van Mullem was born in Congo in 1959 to Belgian parents. He grew up moving around the world as a result of his parents various diplomatic postings, including a seven year stay in Tunisia. The artist has always been an autodidact. He started drawing at the age of five and  never stopped, following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. His family roots are in the city of Bruge, and from which he went on to study architecture in Brussels. Later on, Johan began exploring with etching and painting. Today he paints with etching ink, and is considered to be one of the only artists who uses this medium as a way to create paintings.
 
Since his youth, Van Mullem has persisted in his search for wrinkled faces, seeking the beauty that he recognized in the experience that is “engraved” on faces and in hands. Since then, the face remains the major subject of his work. The subjects appear  rejuvenated, disappearing or emerging in a halo of light in an old-fashioned sfumato, offering an escape into a world of emotion. His work is an invitation to look inward and go on a journey of omnipresent emotional charge of which one  cannot part ways indifferently, an effect of the bewildering depth of his paintings.
 
The superimposition and erasure of many smooth layers of diluted inks further accentuates the feeling of viewing a presence on the canvas that is difficult to describe. Van Mullem has mastered this specific and unique technique through self-learning, executing his pieces in etching ink as an extension of his experience as an engraver, giving his work an additional, exceptional character.
 
A multifaceted artist, designer, poet, musician, painter and sculptor, Van Mullem strives to create a diverse but absolutely coherent œuvre that builds bridges to link and awaken our senses. Though his pieces are contemporary, they can suggest references to historical masterpieces.
 
His paintings are in major private collections and Museum collections throughout Europe. He has held solo exhibitions in Art Galleries located in London, Paris, New York and Brussels. His work was exhibited in various European Museums.

PIERRE-LUC POUJOL

Pierre-Luc Poujol was born in 1963 in Alès, in the Cévennes region of France.
In 1984, he began brilliant studies at the Bordeaux School of Applied Arts, graduating top of his class (first prize in drawing, first prize in perspective, first prize in sketching).
After dividing his time between France and the United States for several years, in 2018 he finally set up his studio in the South of France, near Montpellier.
Influenced by the peasant roots of his farmer grandfather and lulled by the spiritual environment of his pastor father, Pierre-Luc Poujol developed an early sensitivity to the world and nature around him.
Rewarded for his work and artistic commitment, he has won numerous prestigious awards. In particular, he won the international prize awarded by UNESCO for the bimillennium of the Nativity.
From March 23 to May 26, 2024, he presents “Arborescences”, his new monographic exhibition at the Musée Paul Valéry, featuring over 70 paintings and wood sculptures on the theme of trees and forests.
A committed artist, Pierre-Luc Poujol will become the first ambassador of the French NGO Coeur de Forêt in spring 2022, for which he will lend his voice and his paintbrushes to help preserve our biodiversity.

Loo & Lou Gallery   |   Copyright ©    |   website: The Artbox

Loo & Lou Gallery  |  ©   |  Site: The Artbox