Dillemans Sam

Sam Dillemans is a Belgian artist, born in Leuven in 1965. He is a figurative painter, draughtsman and graphic artist. He studied at the Academies in Leuven, Mechelen, Ghent, Lille and Tourcoing, where he obtained the diploma of the École régionale supérieure d’expression plastique. Both as a draughtsman and as a painter, he finds his inspiration in the human figure. In the heavy paint texture lies the secret of the subject: the woman, the human being, enduring the tumultuous existence. He also painted masterful black-and-white portraits, including that of Fred Bervoets. Ludo Bekkers wrote: “For S.D., painting is a physical experience, not only related to its gestural aspect, but also coming into being through contact with the paint texture and the consciousness experience of colours” and “S.D. probably opts for the psychological portrait because he can measure himself against his model: the personality’s aura versus the painterly challenge.” From the press: “The goal as a painter is to end in monochromes. And however abstract and sober his monochromes may be, they will never be detached from nature, for Dillemans the ultimate source of inspiration” and “S.D. has painted some fascinating portraits, in which he never embellishes the model, but analyses it in a powerful way. With a preference for building his paintings in black and white, this chromatic limitation further reinforces the emotion that emanates from his art.” In 1986 he received the Dirk Bouts Prize for drawing in Leuven, in 1987 the Prize of the Municipal Academy of Leuven, the First Prize Maurits Naessens for painting and drawing in Meise in 1991, the First Prize Jules Bernaerts for painting in Mechelen in 1992 and the First Prize for painting in Boechout in 1993. His work can be found in the collection of the Provincial Government of Brabant (1990), the OCMW in Antwerp (1997), the Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp (1997) and the Flemish Parliament (1998). He was a teacher at the Academy (1993-1996) and later at the Higher Institute in Antwerp. He exhibited, among others, at Campo in 1993 and at the De Zwarte Panter gallery in Antwerp in 2001 and 2003 (copying studies of old masters). He is mentioned in BAS II and Two Centuries of Signatures of Belgian Artists. (Piron)