A shot eagle in the street

In 2016, for the project Exxposed , Bisser painted this eagle, dead on its back and its legs in the air. The eagle – which can be seen several times in street art in the city – refers to the well-known legend about the origin of the name Aarschot. Julius Cesar himself is said to have shot this bird with a bow and arrow. 'Arend schot' became Aarschot. The mysterious thing about this drawing is the fact that the bird seems to be in a cave or underground. And they are the typical Bissermans who come crawling through a tunnel, with petzl on their heads or a lantern in their hand. The first researcher has a document in his coat pocket; it looks like a map on which Aarschot is clearly drawn. The sober colour palette is typical of the artist. This actually fits in with Bisser's style, which emphasizes drawing more than painting.

Meanwhile, the past six years (2022) have not done the artwork on this old damp wall any good and the image is fading at an accelerated pace.

Bisser (°1991) is a native of Leuven who cautiously started with street art about ten years ago. He has made many works in his hometown, but today he is internationally known and has performed work in New York, Brazil, Ibiza, .... Hans Geyens was his coach on a few occasions. The artist's name Bisser comes from the fact that he had to redo his last year of artistic training, i.e. 'bist'. When he decided to completely change his style just before the final jury of his senior year, he was told that he could repeat his year. His big brother was an inspiration for drawing graffiti letters, but his pictorial work is based on the simple cartoon style of The Simpsons and Kid Paddle. He studied animation in Ghent. A friend introduced him to the (illegal) spray can. Drawing remained his passion. The French magazine GraffBombz, among others, was a great stimulus for his typographical work. He was a scout leader at AKABE, an organization that deals with young people with intellectual disabilities. The way they drew also fuelled his style.

A legal graffiti wall in Leuven offered him the opportunity to experiment on walls and in large format. Letters became squiggly 3D lines and eventually evolved into the artisanal work of the large murals. Characteristic of his work is the fact that murals are placed in perfect harmony with their surroundings. Just look at how he makes use of the difficult shape of this street wall.

Bisser also works on paper and canvas. In 2017, he made an accurate drawing of Leuven's town hall. The numerous sculptures were replaced with his characteristic figures.

Jan Rymenams