Tom De Hoog, Metal Weaving & Sculpture Exhibit

Tom De Hoog is an emerging artist and sculptor working from his studio in the hills above Woodside. There, he is applying his own approach to the concept of metal sculpture outside of the more mainstream metal art community.

His use of the weave as a central focus of many of the pieces offers his viewer something visually familiar and recognizable. He then continues to add layers of color and texture to each piece, adding shadows, weight, and complexity. The work’s attraction becomes more apparent over time because the full effect is not always immediately perceived. The application of unusual materials, and the way he handles the contours, finishes and patinas breaks with much of conventional metal art.

His work involves a great deal of physical labor and many pieces are time consuming and even exhausting. Tom believes that this energy transfer to the art is felt by the viewer.  This clear use of directly applied hands-on force, and special attention to detail, sets his work apart. Most pieces have minute detailing seen only at close range, although each also has an impact from normal viewing distance as well as a distance away.

“Time and energy are used in great quantity whenever you are working out an idea for the first time. You are engineering this and tinkering with the tooling for that, experimenting and hoping your creative skill and intuition will pay off.

Sometimes you are unaware of your success until you are finished and you have time to reflect. The surprises are rewarding when the effort yields more than could have been planned.

I am driven to use what I learn to explore and create new, exciting and ever more intense ideas in sculpture.  I hope to continue to be innovative and diversified within the framework of wall mounted and freestanding three-dimensional art.

I believe that my talent is an ability to focus on a specific goal with persistence and excitement, sometimes overlooking the harsh realities of my chances to succeed. The theory of the 10,000 hours of practice that makes one a master has been my goal and as I exceed it, I sense more and more that a saturation point exists where elements once diverse and uncoordinated start becoming synergistic and cooperative.

What you see here in this collection is a sampling of over 12 years of experimentation and testing of ideas while discovering tools and techniques adapted mostly from the field of metal fabrication. My approach is to start with an idea, then acquire the skills, tooling and machinery to make it work. When we are formally trained in a discipline, it tends to control what we produce. I want to keep the creative ideas at the leading edge of my craftsmanship, and play catch up with the how-to. In many ways, this is more inefficient in the short term, but it removes the restraints on my creativity.

if you are not visually entertained, then I have failed because that is my ultimate goal."


Tom De Hoog
‘Metalweaver’
June 28, 2010