Climbing the walls in Brussels

If graffiti were accepted and subsidised, as most of the world’s art has been since the days of mediaeval patrons, this is what you might get. A Brussels gable wall has been given new life. Typically, however, not one of the men on top of Brussels’ most famous pisser, Maneken Pis, is either black or Arab, even though immigrants make up an important part of Brussels’ population. Hergé, creator of Tintin and the most famous Belgian exponent of the “bande dessinée” or comic-strip book, produced some work with a clearly racist content. A recent EU survey suggested that the Belgians are the most racist people in Europe.

On a house near an old covered market in the centre of Brussels you can find this mural in typical ultra-realistic post-Hergé style, the figures with clearly drawn outlines. Nearby is a an expensive menswear shop, as well as some fashionable restaurants and boutiques. The area is being renovated. Brussels’ problem is that too many buildings are allowed go to rack and ruin.

A humorous touch on another Brussels facade. The trompe l’oeil is quite successful: driving by on the boulevard, a casual glance and you may well think yourself a witness to a real-life drama.