The Artist as a Young Man

A gallery of Jacob's recent masterpieces from his "Belgian Phase"

The modern classic "Ducks in a Pond." A clue to its being completed during the Belgian Immersion period of Jacob's career are the multitudes of cobblestones on the right, which are nicknamed "kinderkop" (children heads!) in cycling parlance.

The inspired "Lego my Apple" combining both still life of an Apple logo with a portrait from Lego Heroica. Very few artists have been able to master either style, let alone combine them in a single drawing that, with its sword flying through the heart of the apple, also raises a cautionary tale for our times.

The artist fuelling himself with turbocharged Nutella Pizza (not a typo - Nutella Pizza!) at Mamma Roma's pizza parlour on the left, and rocking my Smith shades and his Eneco multipurpose thingy (how else to describe that bit of fabric that you can turn into a bandana, headband, balaclava, scarf, and whatnot?). PR folks from Eneco (energy company) were giving them out at the Zolder CX race if you answered a survey, which Debbie did to get one. Later on, they saw me and realized I was hopelessly non-Belgian and gave me one, helped by Jacob batting his long eyelashes at the girl!