INTRODUCTION ‘The frescoes’ | JEAN-MARIE WYNANTS | Journalist | 2021 — The mural, for Lucas Racasse, is the magnum opus, the firework finale, the moment when all constraints blow apart. It’s where the artist lets loose, conjuring up encounters as improbable as they are exhilarating, crafting crowds made up entirely of familiar faces that viewers can spend hours identifying, one by one. While murals have often served to glorify the feats of our great men, the way Racasse seizes the genre throws out the rulebook entirely. Borrowing the faces of political, media, scientific, athletic, religious, philosophical, and musical figures, he assembles impossible gatherings that make us dream, hallucinate, laugh—or wince. In Wonderland, the planet’s 100 richest personalities roar with laughter as they’re hurled along runaway roller coasters shaped like golden calves, while the apocalypse rages all around. In Inferno, history’s most notorious murderers cheer wildly at a boxing match between Cain and Abel, refereed by none other than Adolf Hitler. The Blessed Bath takes dozens of gods, saints, preachers, and other religious icons on a dip in paradisiacal waters. And he pushes even further in Belgica Sexicæ Unita, taking the phrase “Belgian mess” quite literally by staging a gigantic orgy with all our political figures. Iconoclast, Racasse? No doubt about it. And he goes to great lengths to find, on each face, the perfect expression to match the role he assigns. But this contemporary Michelangelo doesn’t just revel in portraying the dark follies of the world. Sometimes he leaves Dante’s Inferno behind and leads us into Paradise. That’s how we get a spectacular gathering of hundreds of artists in a Parliamento we’d love to attend. Or a massive demonstration of global celebrities rallying behind the slogan “Free the Images.” Not to mention Midnight in Belgium, where all the country’s iconic figures gather around a fry stand in front of the Royal Palace. “Formidable!” laughs Stromae. “Surreal!” chuckles Magritte at the sight of a dancing fry and a Manneken Pis perched atop the Yellow Mark. And you can bet that in just a heartbeat, they’ll all be howling in chorus with Arno: “Damn, damn, it’s bloody great!” Excerpt from the book Every Day Is Picture Day, published in 2022.