David Vanorbeek Metal Art And Sculpture
David Vanorbeek, known to the world as Deev, is a shy, unassuming, quietly spoken man, with a charming smile, and a charming family. The least flamboyant of men, thoughtful and reflective, you would not immediately expect him to be the author of the astonishingly powerful, outstanding metal sculptures that are displayed not only in his country of adoption, France, but throughout Europe.
Born in 1968, in Louvain, Belgium, he is the oldest of 4 children. His mother would scold him, saying 'Do you think the future's going to fall out of the sky on to your lap?' He would reply 'Yes' with quiet confidence. The death of his father when he was only 14 years old had a profound effect on him, he discovered that life was too brief, and also confirmed his belief that opportunities in life should be seized when offered.
After the baccalaureate Deev studied to be a social worker, but for some years took casual jobs before involving himself in social work. But one day he found a discarded roll of wire...the future had fallen into his lap. The first of his famous wire sculptures came into being.
Many of his original works were modeled on Nature - a passion of his since a child, when watching wild animals and birds in the woods were his favourite pastimes. His figurative sculptures, made from wire and other recycled metal, brought him increasing fame. Although figurative, many are fantastical, Giant insects abound, wasps and flies the size of small ponies. His Mating Dragonflies, an early work, won a prize and was bought by a castle in Holland, to display in its gardens. He has won many other prizes since, and sold monumental sculpture and metal art to public and private collections in several countries.
When Deev moved to France with his partner Natalie and their children in 2002 the vineyards were a rich source of metal for his sculptures, as the wire holding the vines is discarded each year; it was appropriate that the local insects provided the inspiration for the metal art. Examples of these striking pieces of art can be seen all over the Aude region where he has made his home, from ants the size of rabbits on terraces and in gardens, to huge beetles the size of a man in fields and parks. His artwork is affordable, even art lovers on a low income can afford to buy one of Deev's sculptures.
Increasingly, Deev is moving away from figurative to abstract art, and coming into a new maturity in the world of sculpture, from monumental sculptures of great beauty and complexity, to tiny, intricate, graceful pieces, but all made from metal discarded by its owners, found in skips and dumps, given new and wonderful life by the hands of Deev. Natalie, his partner, is also an artist and textilist, and together they are working on a new project called 'MetalloTextile' which juxtaposes metal and cloth.
'I don't need ideas, I need metal', says Deev, and this is evident, ideas he has in plenty. In his garden, nothing is ugly, in spite of the scrap metal collection, carefully hoarded. At every turn are new evidences of his creative power, a few pieces of metal carefully joined one to another to create yet another metal artwork which will make you catch your breath with its beauty.