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If you have ever driven on a motorway in Belgium you likely have encountered large abstract sculptures on the roadside. Unmistakable due to their sheer size their creator in Belgium and even more so outside the country is little known: it was architect/sculptor Jacques Moeschal (1913-2004) who by the early 1950s not only embraced sculpture as a means to break free from the limitations of architecture but also aimed at democratizing art. Although Moeschal initially worked in a figurative style he, through the rationality of modern architecture, quickly embraced abstraction as his language. In 2021 Bozar Brussels showed the first comprehensive retrospective of Moeschal’s work, accompanied by the present catalogue published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König: it explores the artist’s work and for the first time also focuses on the few but equally fascinating buildings Moeschal realized. The latter include the spectacular pavilion of civil engineering at Expo 1958 in Brussels, his own modest home and the fortress-like House De Keignaert. But of course it is his monumental sculptures placed alongside Belgian (and Israeli) motorways since the early 1960s that have anchored Moeschal, often unbeknownst, in the memory of the people: the artist in his form-finding process was driven by the democratic nature of the motorway and the unique perception situation of driving by, seeing the sculpture through the narrow framing of a car window and at the same time moving at considerable speed. Accordingly the sculptures had be to be large and of simple shapes in order to be fully perceived and to distract from the monotony of the motorway. Through close cooperation with engineers and his architectural background Moeschal was able to have them cast on site in concrete, the material of the time perfect for monumental constructions like the „Signs“. Not many roadside artworks are of great quality but Jacques Moeschal‘s works are a wonderful exception that finally receives its due appreciation in the present catalogue that I warmly recommend!