Strook
For the artist STROOK, old, weathered materials have a special quality about them. Every piece of wood has a history of its own.
Stefaan De Croock (b. 1982), aka STROOK, is a contemporary artist from Belgium. His collages, sculptures, installations and paintings have received considerable acclaim internationally.
The central theme of his works is essentially ‘time’ and the exploration of the transience of life. This is evident in his choice of materials: weathered wood, old marble, resilient steel and fragile ceramics. The colours, the paint, the relief ... form an aesthetic imprint of everything the material has ever endured and therefore make it possible for you to ‘see’ time.
He takes this primal material, which bears scars of personal experiences, so to speak, and reconfigures it into a broad spectrum of unique portraits.
When creating the mysterious woman on the façade of 't Santpoortje, the street artist utilised materials – doors, awnings, floors and furniture, some of which are at least 300 years old – from various old houses in Bruges. He sees the wood as a symbol that reflects persistence and tenacity in our disposable society.
