Dirk Hamblok was born in Lommel, Belgium in 1966, and enjoyed art education at the St-Lucas Academy. Creating, making, assembling and working with multiple materials and using materials as expression are central to his artwork.
Entry description
Dirk’s entry reuses pewter saved from the scrapyard to give it a new appearance, purpose and value, effectively, ‘introducing new energy into a beautiful material as a counterpoint to our throwaway society. Cheap iron cans symbolise energy drinks, in particular those used by Popeye the Sailor Man to wash down his spinach. The viewer is somewhat caught between the difference and the contrast of the materials, with the pewter clearly winning over the cheap iron and the pewter being given the leading role.’
