Johan van Mullem seeks stories and the beauty of time passed in the wrinkles of aged faces His own face becomes a recurring motif in his work, linking experience and texture in the literal depth of emotion in his engraved paintings. His experience as an engraver has led to the subtle mastery of creating emotionally charged portraits in the minuscule erasure into layers of inks, Each of van Mullems pieces may seem symbolically solitary, yet his oeuvre as a whole attempts to coherently sum the inexpressible feeling of introspection in each of the senses.