(Fig. 1) Jesus Christ Painting-Object Sculpture, 2007. (Fig. 2 Left) Organic Totem or Indeterminate Pattern Painting, 2007. (Fig. 2 Right) Organic Totem or Indeterminate Pattern Painting-Object, 2007. Jean-Luc Moerman’s “Connecting-thinge II” solo exhibition is on view from September 8 to October 13 at Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve in the 13th arrondissement. Born in 1964, Jean-Luc Moerman is one of today’s most representative Belgian artists. His unique artistic language and mythology are built upon cultural roots of both the past and present, effectively synthesizing urban graffiti graphics, primitive art, tattoo totems, and Japanese rigorous calligraphy. He was gifted with an unexpected discovery of Japan during an exhibition in Tokyo years ago, becoming captivated by its culture; the artist stated, “Japan is such a perfect combination of past and future, tradition and innovation,” which deeply influenced his subsequent creations.

Moerman’s works all feature organic organizational forms within indistinguishable automatic graphic structures, intensifying an explosive black-and-white visual language. Rejecting all material or physical limitations, they are presented on various supports such as urban walls, aluminum plates, car body panels, paper, or stickers, powerfully depicting today’s vibrant urban culture. In this solo exhibition, these amorphous and organically organized totems are expanded across the gallery’s transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, constructing an environmental space installation. The show presents three major types of works: traditional black-and-white totem paintings; striking sculptures that receive traditional objects like crucifix statues, transformed through the artist’s full-body tattoo totems into extraordinary black-and-white painting-objects (like old wine in new bottles); and another series that appropriates images from contemporary mass media, such as pop stars revealing their chests. The artist tattoos these exposed bodies with his symbolic totems (via computer image processing), perfectly transforming traditional images into postmodern visuals, presenting an extraordinary personal mythology. As Jean-Luc Moerman said, “If today we need to recreate a statue of Jesus, I will reinvent a powerful myth—a robot.”