BART SOMMERS

Bart Somers creates his sculptures with a hammer, then finishes them with a blowtorch. His sculptures depict moving figures and animals in perfect balance. As he explains: "Three hundred kilos of iron spread over a thickness of 15 mm, as thin as a coin. When I stand in front of my hydraulic press and cutting flashlight, I feel like an artist in front of his empty canvas, or a writer in front of his still blank pages. At that precise moment, my imagination takes shape and my torch lights up. All aspects of my sculpture take shape as I patiently work towards the final result. I carve with a hammer, and paint with my flashlight - a fairly simple method. My studio on the quayside in Heusden is a great stimulus to my creativity. From the moment I arrive in the morning, the percussion of the hammers and the whine of my sander become my daily alarm. It's fascinating to see how iron can take on different shapes, and how soft it feels to the touch, like a horse's snout.