Tom Flick

Stone sculptor

©Michel Medinger

©Tom Flick

©Michel Medinger

The archaeologist of stone

For Tom, it all started with a stone, a hammer and a chisel
Through his work he generates a personal 3-D language
He loves the mix of intellectual and physical exertion

One of Tom Flick’s favourite aphorism is by Georg Baselitz, the famous German painter, sculptor and graphic artist: “Sculpture is like archaeology: you dig in and you find something.” Tom learned many different techniques such as drawing, modelling, welding, casting, stone and wood sculpture whilst studying at the Fine Arts School of the Lycée Technique des Arts et Métiers in Luxembourg and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2001, he was one of the founding members of the Sixthfloor collective, which comprises several artists in a former sawmill in Koerich, Luxembourg. He also has a workshop for monumental sculpture called Stonezone in Sweden. His favourite materials are sandstone, marble, granite and alabaster, from which he updates his creations, which he exhibits in Luxembourg and abroad.

Interview

©Michel Medinger

©Tom Flick

How do tradition and innovation meet in your work?: Since early times, stone was used to carve figures, animals or pagan deities. The work to manufacture out of a hard material is traditionally in our genetic code. Innovation takes place when you reinterpret traditional techniques to give them a contemporary meaning.
What do you think of modern technologies?: Modern technologies seem to imitate the skill of a stone sculptor, but no machine will ever see and feel the material in the same way we do. Work never tires me: I can imagine, create and deform uncommon shapes 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.
Where does your inspiration come from?: I absorb impressions and information from close up objects and the wider environment, which I translate into a 3-D language of its own, using direct carving and all other techniques related to stone sculpture.
Do you train apprentices?: I don’t have apprentices but, since 1998, I have also been an art teacher in the Lycée des Arts et Métiers in Luxembourg. Over the last 30 years, I have followed the progress of quite a few art students who started off doing a practical workshop related to their studies.

Tom Flick is a master artisan: he began his career in 1993 and he started teaching in 1998