{{short description|Belgian painter|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{BLP sources|date=March 2008}} {{Infobox artist | name = Sam Dillemans | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1965|01|17}} | birth_place = Leuven, Belgium | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = | field = | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | elected = | website = {{URL|http://www.sam-dillemans.com/}} | bgcolour = }} <!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|300px|Sam Dillemans, ''Portrait of Ingres'' (2007), private collection --> '''Sam Dillemans''' (born 17 January 1965) is a Belgian painter.
==Background==
Sam Dillemans was born in Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium.<ref name="Dillemans001"> {{cite web |title = Sam Dillemans, the artist |publisher = Sam Dillemans |url = http://www.sam-dillemans.com/info/artist.html |access-date = 2008-03-05 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080319143909/http://www.sam-dillemans.com/info/artist.html |archive-date = 19 March 2008}}</ref> After high school, Dillemans studied at several academies in Belgium and abroad. He obtained the French Higher National diploma of Plastic Expression Option Art. For some years he has been teaching drawing and painting at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and was a guest professor at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts of Flanders, also in Antwerp.<ref name="Dillemans001"/> He now lives and works in Borgerhout, Antwerp.
A documentary about his work and life, ''The Madness of Detail'', was entered in the "Creative Documentary" category at the 21st International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes held in Biarritz, France in January 2008.<ref name="FIPA17788"> {{cite web |title = Sam Dillemans |publisher = International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes |year = 2007 |url = http://www.fipa.tm.fr/programmes/en?2008doc_17788 |access-date = 2008-03-05 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080201175825/http://www.fipa.tm.fr/programmes/en?2008doc_17788 |archive-date = 1 February 2008}}</ref> and won the ''FIPA d'Or for best creative documentary''.<ref name="DS-B21670901080126"> {{cite news | title = Documentary about painter Sam Dillemans wins FIPA d'Or | language = Dutch | publisher = De Standaard | date = 27 January 2008 | url = http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelID=B21670901080126 | accessdate = 2008-03-05}}</ref>
==Work== The work of Dillemans has deep roots in European painting tradition. According to Dillemans, painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Pablo Picasso are not artists of the past, but artists of today and they continue inspire him in his work.<ref name="FIPA17788"/> To Dillemans it does not matter ''when'' something was painted, but ''how'' it was painted. The method of painting, how paint and brushes are used to seek or construct a striking image, is timeless.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
His work is a quest to find the visual equivalent for the complex interaction between imagination, feeling, consciousness and the painting technique itself. To achieve this goal, Dillemans says, painters have a difficult and at times tedious task to fulfill. They cannot not be satisfied with the clear perception of reality as an evidence of truth, but must try harder to understand more fully their subjects. With thick strokes and an impressive relief on the surface, Dillemans's style contains a refined form of elasticity and plasticity.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
The process of creation is an important aspect in his work. During this process the paintings appear at times to become gradually more abstract. Dillemans is convinced that a painting only has a chance to take form once the paint begins to take on a life of its own. This style is more firmly rooted in the European tradition rather than that of abstract expressionism and although the strokes become autonomous and follow their own logic, the final form stills holds true to a recognizable and even classical form. Modernism, classicism and academism seem to come together in his work without any contradiction among the styles.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
==World vision == {{BLP unsourced section|date=March 2008}} Dillemans's world vision is rather sombre. He works intensively and there is much action and movement within his work and in this way his painting becomes an intense occupation. Many painters of the past were also occupied by this same endeavour. Dillemans states that, "a painter like Ingres drew on his right to be taken seriously. In his case it is about a beautiful aristocratic seriousness which has nothing to do with self glorification. Proof of this is that he was still copying Michelangelo at the age of sixty five."{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
==Stages== {{BLP sources section|date=March 2008}} Because of his prolific work and creativity, Dillemans's output has already passed through several different stages. During the period from 1993 to 2000, he did an intensive study of the female portrait, at times using his wife as a model. A second period from 2000 to 2003 was a period of reflection during which he studied the old masters. This phase would also influence his later work. From 2003 onward he began a pugilistic painting project with numerous boxing scenes <ref name="WCOB05010501"> {{cite news |title = The biggest pugilistic painting project ever |publisher = worldcupofboxing.com |date = 5 January 2005 |url = http://www.worldcupofboxing.com/news/05010501.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050829171008/http://www.worldcupofboxing.com/news/05010501.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 29 August 2005 |accessdate = 2008-03-05 }}</ref> in which a rhythmical movement between individual figures and the presence of physical bodies are in constant dialogue with the baroque. He also began a series of portraits of well known figures who he admires including <!-- THESE NAMES HAVE BEEN LEFT HIDDEN AS IT IS NOT CLEAR WHO THE PEOPLE ARE AS THERE ARE NO FIRST NAMES. CLARIFICATION IS NEEDED TO CONFIRM WHO THEY ARE - Celine, Vladamir Bukovski, Jorge Borges--> Ingres and the Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx.
==References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== ;Books * Bekkers, Ludo; Stegeman, Elly (1995). ''Contemporary Painting of the Low Countries'', Stichting Ons Erfdeel, {{ISBN|978-9070831738}} * Thompson, Jon (2007). ''Sam Dillemans - The authentic world'', Ludion, {{ISBN|978-9055446926}}
;Other literature * De Boeck, Hans & Moonen, Christoph, ''Sam Dillemans- Het kunstwerk op zichzelf'' (The art work on itself), in the ''Catalogus Ithaka 2001'', Kultuurraad der Leuvense studenten, 2001.{{in lang|nl}} * November, Hans, ''Sam Dillemans - De frustratie als motivatie'' (The frustration as a motivation), in ''Ibidem''. {{in lang|nl}}
==External links == *[http://www.sam-dillemans.com/ Official site] *[http://www.eastwestgallery.net/sam_dillemans.htm Dillemans at the East West Gallery, London]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[http://www.art-gallery.be/nl/artist/DILLEMANS+Sam Silkscreens Sam Dillemans, ART Gallery, Belgium]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillemans, Sam}} Category:Belgian painters Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Academic staff of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) Category:Painters from Leuven