Johan De Moor artwork

The queue, 2022
Artist: Johan De Moor
1953, Antwerp, Belgium. Lives and works in Brussels.

This colourful 25-metre long fresco depicts a queue at the administration centre. It is also an allegory of Brussels, with references to Magritte, Broodthaers, Bruegel,..., as well as road signs and traffic lights, city cameras, scooters, and so on.

A multitude of Belgian comic strip and cartoon characters, as well as secondary characters, talk to each other in the Brusselian dialect - "Wapaasdedoevan?"*, or "En ga geluufd da!"** - while they wait their turn, and they sing or hum extracts from songs by Brussels-based artists (Angèle, Dick Annegarn, Johan Verminnen, Arno,...).

Finally, Franquin's famous seagull calls out their number: "Au suivant - Volgende - Next!".

The original drawing of the fresco has been enlarged (2.50 m in height), reproduced and printed on canvas.

* What do you think?
** And you are ready to believe this?

Born in Antwerp in 1953, son of Bob De Moor (Hergé's right-hand man) and godson of Willy Vandersteen (the creator of Spike and Suzy), Johan De Moor had every reason to run from the world of comics. But, after studying at the Sint-Lukas Institute and at La Cambre, they called out to him. Johan joined Hergé Studios to work on the Quick and Flupke albums, a universe he knows well since he adapted it into an animated series.

He turned the page on the 'ligne claire' style when he met Stephen Desberg, whom he collaborated with on Gaspard of the Night, then La Vache-Pi 31416 for the monthly comic magazine A Suivre.

Developing a devastating sense of humour, Johan De Moor became a sharp pencil, much loved by the press for commenting on current events with a generous and impertinent imagination. This has earned him numerous national and international awards.

A great all-rounder, Johan also joined the Jeu des Dictionnaires team, followed by Un Samedi d'enfer on RTBF. While working for the radio, he met Gilles Dal with whom he created Cœur Glacé, and then La Vie à deux, wonderfully disenchanted pop comic books published by Le Lombard.

He reunited with Stephen Desberg to produce the Les Sauvages Animaux comic book for Casterman in 2022.

And, last but not least, in 2022, his Dessins d'humeur, a 260-page collection of his best press cartoons, was also published (Casterman).

The video shows an interview with Johan De Moor (this video contains an interview in French with French and Dutch subtitles):