Stefaan De Crook, also known as simple Strook is definitely not your typical street artist, for he doesn’t go around tall buildings spray painting them or flooding public walls with stencils. We can say for sure that he definitely found a way to leave his mark! Strook is using planks from junked wood, or from wooden doors to be exact. And that’s not all, he doesn’t even use paint or any other material to change the coloring of the old doors, he mixes all kinds of colors and blends them to perfection, making his projects an even bigger head-turner. He uses everything in the original form and color that he found it. Then he cuts, shapes and glues the different pieces of wood in order to form a giant image.
His incredible work of art is a product of a long and very detailed scavenging, hours and hours of planning, and masterfully done construction. This creative genius’ latest mural called “Elsewhere” is an amazing example of the aesthetic and class of his work however raw it may seem at first side. The raw and edgy style of this mural is a figure, a silhouette almost of a person that shows exactly how talented De Crook really is and his amazing sense of design and his undeniable diligence.
The recycled materials that he uses are consist of basically every kind of discarded pieces of wood, from doors, floors and all kinds of furniture and are put together in an amazing style by Strook – kind of reminding of pieces of a very interesting and mind-blowing puzzle.
Here’s in his own words where he manages to find all that wood for his work and where does he draw inspiration from: “I always keep an eye open for wood. The ‘harvesting’ is almost as important as the making of the artwork. Sometimes I see doors or wooden planks on a construction site and if they look interesting, I ask the construction workers if they still need it. If they don’t need them anymore, I come back with my van. I'll also search in deserted factories or houses just before they're going to be destroyed. Sometimes people send me a message or tell me where I can find some old floors or doors. I just look everywhere.”
“Faces. It always starts with a drawing of a face. It’s really interesting to make a face with the discarded wood. It gets a new life and a new story.”
