Golgotha, Aarschot 1978
90 x 80 cm
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Golgotha is the name of the hill outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. Golgotha means place of the skull. In Lent it is called Mount Calvary.
75 x 90 cm
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on metal
80 x 100 cm
Origin of the worlds, Aarschot 1977
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
come, breathe calmly
now that we finally know where cosmic radiation comes from
is it strange that we are no more afraid than before
we hear the sky above us creak
feel how the black hole pulls at our limbs
at what circles in slow air
at what glides through lonely water
come, settle your body on this restless earth
stare at the riddle of the darkness and know
the wolf herring swims in you
the crane flies in you
yet you fall so easily out of every moment
come, unfold your fin-wings
and conjure fire anew out of nothing
SARAH MICHAUX
90 x 100 cm
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on metal
100 x 80 cm
Untitled, Aarschot 1970
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Poem by Sarah Michaux:
We forget that we are constantly falling apart
We try to keep order, to lay our body within lines
to let our heart pound just enough that it does not jump out of our
bodies. We look in mirrors and dim the light. We dim.
Dawn whispers the promise that today is the day on which
we will make a discovery, every evening we forget how
to fall apart again.
We would rather be a cortex of brain in electric water
with something that feeds us pleasures so that we think
we taste something, for ever the most beautiful delusions.
Sarah Michaux
1970
1970
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
88 x 100 cm
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on metal
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
“DO NOT LOOK ONLY WITH YOUR EYES, BUT LOOK WITH YOUR HEART TOO.” – Miel Deca
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–
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
His art is marked by the search for new forms of expression. The materiality of the work and its presence in space gain in importance. Contrasts such as heaviness and lightness, fullness and emptiness, hardness and softness characterise the often abstract objects.
The energy expended in the process is conserved, but changes its form.
Untitled.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
90 x 80 cm
The circus, Aarschot (1967)
Merry-go-round.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
70 x 80 cm
Boats.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 70 cm
Boats.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 70 cm
Vase with flowers.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 70 cm
Vase with flowers, Aarschot (1970)
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Still life with flowers.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 70 cm
Flower vase, Aarschot (1970)
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
70 x 80 cm
Still life.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 90 cm
Still life (1977)
acrylic on canvas
(1977)
(1977)
80 x 90 cm
Heath.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
“The result of his technique is a torrent of bright, life-loving Southern and Pallieterian colours. Not infrequently they come at the viewer like a ballet of light, like a splashing water display.” – Dr. phil. Paul Kempeneers (1972)
Landscape.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
70 x 80 cm
Landscape, Aarschot 1971
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Miel Deca, titular professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Aarschot, is the painter of the Hageland. His love of colour is innate. Form and content always coincide in strength and spontaneity. His work is post-expressionist, with an always strongly closed unity, rich in colour, life-affirming and full of temperament.
70 x 80 cm
Winter landscape.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Three pollard willows.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Interpreter of inner passion.
“All his life Miel Deca has been a quiet man who works conscientiously. His stoic calm could be explained as resignation or phlegm, but in truth he is a man consumed by a passionate fire to reach the highest and to achieve the best.”” – Staf Van Gelder,writer
80 x 70 cm
Langdorp.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 100 cm
Little village.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
90 x 80 cm
Langdorp.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
One thing is certain: “For Aarschot, Deca is the inevitable, the indispensable.”
80 x 100 cm
“The blazing of your colour even in black
bears the stamp of your impetuous heart which
at its own rhythm sows love across the surface in threefold:
warmth for the eye friendship for the wonder of creation,
one sound with fellow human beings and nature.
You stand in the middle of it and look until the absurd gives way and you
patiently manage to capture what has for ages been called beauty.
The drifting of your knife on colour holds within it wonder and
rising above the routine of everyday insignificance.” – Freek Dumarais poet – teacher of visual arts (1974)
The village of Tielt-Winge in Flemish Brabant.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
“Miel Deca does not apply paint by means of the traditional paintbrush. He does that only for the base layer, which consists of a dark surface of brown, mauve and even black. Then he covers the canvas with a palette knife, so that the painting is built up with sweeps, with large planes of colour, with broad stripes that reflect the artist’s deeper impressions.” – Dr. phil. Paul Kempeneers
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.” –
80 x 90 cm
150 x 200 cm
Autumn.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
“These trees that speak… Dreams arise in a mind that is not quite human, but rather resembles a whisper of nature.” – Carl Gustav Jung
80 x 70 cm
Little village.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
“There is an infernal voice in you that commands your palette
to steal the sparkling hues
to create a minuet of colours.
There is a hand in you that digs incessantly
towards the deepest graves of your heart
an expedition towards the light.
You sought the early morning valley but found a rugged rock.
Build your house there out of planes and quench your tormenting thirst
at the eternal source of colour.”
– Gie Luyten, editor of art magazines, presenter at the BRT (Belgian Radio and Television), (1977)
The farmer’s wife.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
80 x 90 cm
The wood.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
Winter.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
70 x 80 cm
Winter.
acrylic with palette knife on canvas
50 x 60 cm
View of the village.
on canvas
40 x 60 cm
Farm.
on canvas
“As a boy of about six he was already taking lessons at the drawing school of Aarschot. He lived in Gelrode and walked a few kilometres to the drawing school and back twice a week. He had no bicycle. You got one then for your solemn communion if your parents were well off. Those were exceptions. Later Miel’s parents moved to the centre of Aarschot and it became easier for him to attend drawing school.” – Elza Deca Dehond (1924-2006) – wife
“(1924-2006) –
(1924-2006) –
60 x 40 cm
on panel
50 x 60 cm
on panel
Le Lavandou
Miel Deca organised holidays for people from Aarschot to the south of France!
Night without day – last work.
felt-tip pen on paper
Despite his illness, Miel Deca still wielded the pen and pencil until two weeks before his death. His last two drawings were trees in black and white.
One of his rules of thumb: Trees die standing, also applied to himself.
“There is a moment in life, when one has worked a great deal, when the forms come by themselves, the paintings come by themselves, one does not need to bother about them! Everything comes by itself. Death too.” – André Malraux (1974)
EMIEL DECA (1920 – 1980)
- painter – war volunteer – combatant
- residence and studio: Aarschot, Elisabethlaan, 20
- wife: Elza Dehond (1924-2006)
- daughter: Ria ° 1956
studies :
- From 1926 to 1934, primary education at the R.M.S. in Aarschot.
- From 1935 to 1940, State Normal School in Lier.
- Art education at the Municipal Academy in Aarschot, from 1960 to 1972
- pupil of Maurice Haccuria.
profession :
- teacher at the Royal Athenaeum Aarschot.
- teacher at the Academy in Aarschot, since 1970 (shadow drawing and painting).
solo exhibitions :
Keerbergen (1963) – Tongerlo (1965 and 1968) – Leuven (1966) – Hasselt (1966) – Antwerp (1968) – Aarschot (1969) – Grevenbroich (Germany) (1970) – Westerlo (1970) – Korbach (Germany) (1971)
group exhibitions :
Wezemaal (1966-67-68) – De Panne (1967) – Willebroek (1968) – Schoten (1968) – Leuven (1968) – Jodoigne (1969) – Herent (1967) – Brussels (1968) – Genk (1969)
distinctions :
- Medal of the Resistance from the Minister of National Defence
- Medal of the war volunteer – combatant
- awarded the Commemorative Medal of the war 1940-1945
- 1964 : Prize of the City of Aarschot For a painting ‘s Hertogenmolens
- 1967: Laureate Mutualistische klinieken van Brabant.
- 1970: Triennial Prize of the municipality of Wilsele.
Appendix: Emiel Deca Prize Wilsele
& Prize of the Beatrijs society in Rotselaar. & Prize of the Hageland in Rotselaar.
- 1971 :
– International Painting Prize Ligny (province of Namur) :
Appendix: 0351_001 “the street! … painting competition 1971
Appendix: 0353_001 école de Ligny – Association Artistique et Culturelle
Appendix: 0357_001 participants in the competition at Ligny
Appendix: 0356_001 jury members
Appendix: 0355_001 results of the competition
Appendix: 0354_001 newspaper clippings
& Second place in the “Prize of the Hageland” in Rotselaar.
- 1972: Laureate of the “competition Gandersheim”.
& Third place in the “Painters’prize Ligny”..
- 1973: First place in the competition for the “Beatrijs Prize” in Rotselaar.
& Second place in the public’s competition at the Beatrijs Prize in Rotselaar.
“Emiel Deca goes with his post-expressionist palette to the natural object. For him every painting is a colourist creation based on the data of nature. In this way he achieves a strongly closed unity in his works, which he no longer even needs to sign in order for them to be recognised.”
When I think of Miel, I see before me, first of all, a friendly man, not superficial or jovial but calm, full of attention, almost serious. That friendliness was always meant sincerely, because he did not like outward show. I got to know him through the Aarschot Operetta Society (I took care of the make-up there and Bekke Van den Broek the scenery). That operetta society consisted of a group of exuberant young people under the direction of a remarkable trio. This trio consisted of Miel Rens, Elza Dehond and Miel Deca.
Miel Rens was the warm-hearted conductor of the orchestra, smiling as he enjoyed the sparkling, graceful music. Second came Elza Dehond, the exuberant, spirited inspirer of the ballets. Through her dynamism she drove the ballerinas to high achievements. And then there was the second Miel, the refined observer, analyst and soul of the proceedings. He intervened resolutely where it was needed and praised good results with appreciation. These operetta performances were the highlights of Aarschot’s cultural life at the time.
These performances, highly valued by the Aarschot public, ran on the enthusiasm of the couple Miel and Elza Deca-Dehond.
But then, one day, there was that other Miel Deca.
Miel as a painter
He sketched, painted, observed, made exercises and studies as if he had never done anything else.
Day after day his artistic oeuvre grew.
He was not out for bravura or superlative achievements. He worked like a driven craftsman and kept well away from the heated discussions of rebellious young people.
Above all he remained himself and expressed what lived in him, what moved him, without trimmings, without puffed-up gestures. He remained pure and sincere in everything. The noble, the great eternally valid values were important to him. He believed in specifically Flemish painting and its great plastic qualities.
He attached no importance to outward show. His balanced, solid compositions, his splendid and powerful colour palette vouched for a sincere and warm-hearted art.
In today’s world of appearances, with its blurred, dubious standards, its penchant for the outlandish and the show, with its urge to overawe and to trivialise, to ridicule, in a glitter world where everything is subordinate to viewing figures and money-making, the work of Miel Deca is a heart-warming oasis.
He uses no big words, so I am not going to do so here either. For me his work is sincere and solid, full of manly inspiration and temperament.
It is the convinced expression of our unique Hageland character and mildness.
Flirting with -isms, the showing off with the “ingenious” swagger that today’s youth is saddled with, is hard to find in Miel.
Miel was someone from our parts who brought “our own”, “Our Poetry” – the poetry of the Hageland – to life and carried it far beyond the borders.” – Fons Verstreken, artist – teacher of visual arts. (1999)
Miel Deca, born in Aarschot on 17 May 1920
Titular professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Aarschot.
“He is the painter of the “Hageland”. His love of colour is innate. Form and content always coincide in strength and spontaneity. His work is post-expressionist, with an always strongly closed unity, rich in colour, life-affirming and full of temperament. How splendidly the fountain of colour lights up when the artist Miel Deca renders his impressions of blossoming cherry trees. Perhaps we may ask ourselves whether these colours might not rather be called a camouflage of inner emotion. Born under the sign of Taurus. Miel Deca, a fighter.” – Grevenbroich and Korbach (1971)
- appendix : Poster of the exhibition in Germany, together with, among others, Juliaan Van Gaubergen : Brabanter Maler stellen aus – Stadt Werl – 1979
Miel Deca
In this short introduction of the painter Miel Deca from Aarschot (Belgium), it will surely strike you that I perhaps do not consider it superfluous to use the word “colour”. Some speakers use this word appropriately and inappropriately; but when I myself talk so much about colours, it is done quite deliberately: colour is always the striking element in Miel Deca.
The artist does not apply the colours in the traditional way. He works with a brush only for the base layer, which mostly consists of a dark surface of brown, red and even black. On it he then works the canvas with a knife, so that the painting is built up with strokes of colour, with planes of colour, with broad stripes that reproduce the artist’s inner feeling. The result of this technique is a flood of bright, life-loving, southern, playful colours. Not infrequently they come towards the viewer like a ballet of light, like a splashing water display, a rainbow, like a spectrum of planes of colour. With his vigorous, rough execution and his strongly playful fountain of colour, Miel Deca still leaves us enough figurative elements through which his emotional impressions get across clearly and strongly to the viewer. The visual whole, arising from an inner melting together of form and colour, conveys a strongly suggestive, dreamy feeling.
Miel Deca likes to stroll into open nature. With the unselfconsciousness of a child he is always open to the colour impressions of a landscape. He avoids the dark streets, factory towns, the ugly houses with civilised lawns and cemeteries with concrete barriers. In nature the painter seeks the untouched, the virginity of the forests, the primeval vegetation and the sea.
Thus his landscapes are witnesses to his strongly personal composition, which lets us recognise that it is undoubtedly a painting by Miel Deca. The painter does not draw details, he does not paint his landscapes in the classical way. His technique is, as said, so developed that the details grow into the main elements of the painting. These main elements are therefore always dots or planes of colour, applied with a painter’s knife in a single stroke. A field full of cornflowers, a red roof, a budding garden plot, a golden-yellow haystack, a green meadow, everything melts into a cheerful whole of warm shading. Should we then look on in astonishment when Miel Deca surprises us with trees that do not exist in reality? It is only the chromatic effect that matters, at least as far as the colour impression is concerned that the painter absorbs within himself and projects, greatly enlarged, onto the canvas.
Sometimes the colouring shouts against itself, as in his trees with yellow, red and blue trunks.
In his summer landscapes we are touched by the uniformly yellow field of flowers or blond cornfields or whatever main colour.
and finally a favourite song of Emiel Deca:
https://youtu.be/YL2fY9204mU?t=63