Tom Liekens: Dog Years
Tom Liekens, johan Terryn, Marjan Doom, Dirk Draulans, Jeroen Olyslaegers
Stockmans Art Books, 2021
€45,00
On the occasion of the Dog Years exhibition, the eponymous, richly illustrated book of the work of Tom Liekens with texts by Johan Terryn, Marjan Doom, Dirk Draulans and Jeroen Olyslaegers was published.
In Dog Years, strange “people” feature the head of a dog. Liekens found inspiration in the panel The Pilgrims of The Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers, on which Saint Christopher is depicted. According to medieval legend, the patron saint of travelers and pilgrims came from the land of the Hundreds. One of the Dog Heads was baptized and was named Christopher. His conversion gave him a human tongue and was able to speak. This saint who is said to have died a martyr’s death has long been represented with a dog’s head. Liekens adopted that idea in his version of the panel. In the subsequent works the dogs became increasingly more human expressions. They gradually became a metaphor for the confusing and sometimes violent times in which we live.
ISBN: 9789077207895
