The roots of Karl Meersman (Temse 1961) lie in the land of Rubens and Magritte. Every week he makes two remarkable drawings for Trends Magazine and Focus Knack. Current affairs are his inexhaustible source of inspiration...


He translates his view of the often bizarre world into cartoons that enjoy great interest. Karl owes this recognition to the continuous deepening of techniques, his unmistakable own visual language and a humour that is never far removed from surrealism. His images surprise time and again with their astute observation and an unexpected association. A joke wrapped in craftsmanship, satire with a disarming friendliness.


Karl Meersman studied art history, figure, publicity and printmaking at various art academies. He calls himself a graphic artist who is attracted to caricature and cartoon in the tradition of Felicien Rops, Toulouse Lautrec and Daumier. Karl Meersman observes and is driven by a fascination for people and their behaviour.

For almost 20 years, he has been holding up a mirror to the political-economic world. But he also likes to unmask famous faces from the world of show business. You could call him the court jester, who reduces the greats of the world to naked emperors.


Karl takes the world around him "On the Grain", in an exhibition that is structured thematically:


In the living room of the Black House, on the first floor, the Belgian royal family does not escape his mild mockery. A life-size Brabant draft horse in the national tricolour, portraits of kings and princes and a tribute to our "Greatest Belgians".

The second floor is divided into theme rooms:
The 'room of love' speaks for itself. Often thorny, often fake, but sometimes poetically beautiful.
The 'film room' shows the heroes of the silver screen in all their glory. Or the lack thereof...
The 'BV room' gently criticizes the transparent nature of television fame.
In the 'music room' Meersman brings Nicole and Hugo together with the Rolling Stones.
Toots Thielemans hangs shoulder to shoulder with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
And in the 'projection room' a video montage shows the creation process of Karl's works of art.

An easy chair invites the visitor...
Karl Meersman exhibits original drawings one by one, mainly in watercolour technique. Here and there he works with oil on canvas.

The exhibition was organized in the context of the 45th International Cartoon Festival of Knokke-Heist by vzw Zwart Huis projects in collaboration with vzw Cultuurcentrum Knokke-Heist.