'20th Century Restoration Drama'.
Jean-Claude Block, also known as Jean Block, is a Belgian set designer and former comic artist, and a founding member of the ERCOLA art collective since the late 1960s. He has also worked under the nicknames "Den Block" and "Blok".
Early life and career
Born in 1942, Block studied Architecture at the Sint-Lukas School of Arts in Schaarbeek and the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He initially worked for a contractor, and then focused on designing posters, lay-outs and sets.
ERCOLA collective
In November 1968, Block was co-founder of the Antwerp-based art collective ERCOLA, short for "Experimental Research Center of Liberal Arts". Other founding members were the artist Jean-Claude Buytaert, the author Dominique Donnet and the photographer Piet Verbist. All were former students from the Antwerp Fine Arts Academy. During the 1970s, more artists joined the collective, such as Wally van Looy, Werner Goelen, Luk Carlens, Suzzy Bailleux and George Smits.
At first, the group established itself as the main (and only) representative of the Flemish underground comix scene with their self-published comix magazine Spruit (six issues between August 1971 and July 1972). Their main inspirations were revolutionary French satirical magazines like Hara-Kiri and the American underground comix movement. Even though it allegedly appeared in a print run of 15,000 copies, Spruit failed to attract a large audience, largely because of its poor printing quality and an overall lack of structure and organization among the creators.
Two issues of Spruit (1971-1972).
ERCOLA also produced cover illustrations for Real Free Press Illustratie, a publication of underground comix publisher Olaf Stoop from Amsterdam, who also imported Spruit in The Netherlands. Their collective comic productions additionally appeared in publications like Aloha ('Johnny Kwatta & Sinister Agens'), Impact International, Jos Vanhamme's Ding, Mimo, Tarantula, Gargl and Diepdruk. As a group, they also participated in contests, winning third place with their work 'Beethoven en de Visser' in a contest organized by the Socerlid society from Paris, France. In 1972, the group made the collective book 'De Ont(h)aarde Maagd', together with writer/poet Marcel van Maele. The artwork was provided by Block, Buytaert, Carlens and Goelen. In their collective productions, Buytaert was mostly responsible for the background art, Block for the characters and Carlens for the inking.
Block, who sometimes signed with a drawing of a block of cheese, created comic strips like 'Les Rats Repus', 'Iso Traumwasser', 'De Orde van het Vurig Kruis', 'Constant Haay' (with Buytaert) and 'De Arme Man' (with Verbist), which appeared in Spruit, Impact International and Gimmick. With Goelen, he made untitled gags starring the little eggman Ollekay in Mimo.
As early as 1972, ERCOLA dropped most of its collective comic projects and focused on other forms of artistic expression. The only member who moved on to become a professional comic artist was Werner Goelen (Griffo). In later years, The ERCOLA group has gained most notoriety for their psychedelic graphic work, posters, silkscreens and advertisements. Among their notable clients was the ICC International Cultural Center, a now-defunct avant-garde institution for contemporary visual arts in Antwerp. In 1971, ERCOLA became a non-profit organization whose ambitions and intentions were stated as such: "The study, the pursuit and centralization of contemporary creative art by being, in particular, a productive and informative centre through the distribution of sound, colour, light, time and space."
Set designer
During the 1980s and 1990s, Block, Van Looy and Frank Daniels continued to work in the atelier, by now named Het Decor Atelier Ercola, designing sets for Belgian TV and theater productions. Starting in 1995, Block has been active as a set builder for Studio 100, the production company responsible for popular Flemish children's TV shows like 'Samson en Gert' and 'Kabouter Plop'.
'Rosie', comic story by Jean-Claude Block and scriptwriter Monique Nagielkopf (published in: 'Ercola 1968-2018').
ERCOLA atelier
For many decades, ERCOLA has served as an atelier and exhibition space for free-spirited artists. In 1969, the Belgian comic promoter Danny De Laet organized his first comic expositions in the first ERCOLA studio at the Grote Hondstraat in Antwerp. In late 1972, the collective moved into an historical block of buildings in the Wolstraat. Over the decades, a variety of multidisciplinary artists have frequented the atelier, including actor/director Josse de Pauw, fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck, fine artist and costume designer Frieda Kuterna, scriptwriter Jacques Bakker, the painter Filip Francis, crime novelist and journalist Piet Teigeler, architect Luc Deleu, fashion designer Ann Salens and the musicians Ferre Grignard and Mike Zinzen. The performer Wannes Van de Velde developed his puppet theaters there and Nicole Van Goethem created her 1987 Oscar-winning animated film 'Een Griekse Tragedie' in the ERCOLA building. Among the more recent members have been graphic artist Dennis Tyfus and painter Vaast Colson. In the later years, most of the group activities had been dropped, and ERCOLA members have been working mostly on their own projects.
To celebrate the collective's fiftieth anniversary in 2018, publisher Lannoo released the massive art book 'Ercola 1968-2018', collecting works produced by every member. Every edition contained six original issues from their 1971 comic magazine Spruit.
In July-August 2024, ERCOLA made local news headlines again, when the city real estate company AG Vespa wanted to vacate the building for renovation and give it a new destination. By then, there were 21 remaining artists occupying an atelier in the Wolstraat, five of which live in the building, including ERCOLA founders Jean-Claude Block and Jean-Claude Buytaert, both in their early eighties. In a 1 August 2024 interview with De Gazet van Antwerpen, Jean-Claude Block recalled that when they moved into the building, it was fully dilapidated: "We installed a new roof, fixed the power and waterworks and installed new plumbing. We made it habitable again." Refusing to leave the building, the group organized a fundraising campaign to finance legal action against their eviction.
'De Arme Man...'