Ever Meulen, the illustrator and graphic artist, finds inspiration from Belgian cartoon artists
We know him for his highly stylized cars, architecture, typographic design and rock and pop music, but in his latest book, BRUSSELS, Ever Meulen expresses his love for our country's capital city in the form of 120 drawings, executed in his inimitable and yet traditionally Belgian style.
Eddy Vermeulen, also known as Ever Meulen, was born on 12 February 1946 in Kuurne, West Flanders. He then went on to study Graphic Art in Ghent and Brussels in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s, he started working as an illustrator for the weekly Humo, for which he would make many cover drawings, illustrations, comics and humorous portraits of pop stars. In the 1980s, he also designed record sleeves for the electropop band Telex and posters for the Brussels metro, the Kaaitheater arts centre and the Mallemunt music project. His more recent work is clearly more sober, often interspersed with graphic humour, optical effects and a nod to art history.
His most important role models are the Belgian painter and graphic artist, Frans Masereel, and the comic strip artists Hergé, André Franquin and Raymond Macherot. Ever Meulen strives to achieve a balance between free form and controlled geometry, in which every detail is important to the story. Besides stylish cars and a lot of rock 'n' roll, the man with the pipe, grinning gangsters, tempting women and misfortune regularly appear, patiently waiting for its chance to strike.
Ever Meulen has published and exhibited all over Europe, in the US and Japan, and has won various prizes and awards.