Comic Art Museum - Brussels

The Belgian author Midam has always nurtured the art of laughter, right from his earliest drawings to his most recent works, and he has poured all of his talent into gag comics. The Kid Paddle comic books, which are world-famous and have been translated into numerous languages, epitomise the very essence of this comical universe which has become the mainstay of Belgian comic strip art.

Having started drawing at a very young age, Midam gained a foothold in the profession by joining the Spirou team, and produced numerous drawings to add interest to the comic magazine’s articles. He brought the character of Kid Paddle onto the scene from 1993 onwards, and the video games of the latter’s adventures became a tremendous hit with the general public. In 2003, he started creating the Game Over series to further expand this universe, featuring the adventures of the little barbarian or ‘Petit Barbare’, Kid’s virtual avatar. Midam was perfectly attuned to current trends and developed spin-off products of the series. In addition, he set up a dedicated website on which he invited internet users to come up with ideas for scripts. At the same time, the author was devising adventures for Grrreeny, the little environmental tiger, and comic books in collaboration with Mythic, Clarke and Adam. In recent years, Midam’s love for pure drawing has been rekindled, and he is now illustrating in direct colour, and exploring the universe of the Blorks. The latter are emblematic monsters which he either fossilises onto canvas, or reminiscent of the American brands in the ‘New Blork City’ series, he turns them into works of Art in the form of sculptures, illustrations and paintings.

Midam has created a very special and identifiable world in which humour rules the roost. This exhibition provides an insight into 20 years of creativity, and focuses on the main stages in his career, whilst leaving the author to give the explanations. The ‘Itinerary of a Kid from Brussels’ invites the visitors to (re)discover the universe of a creative author, who is constantly reinventing his artistic approach to surprise us and to make us laugh out loud, time and time again, and forever more…

Mélanie Andrieu – Exhibition Organiser

An exhibition organised by the Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art

With the support of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and the Flemish Community Commission