doorkeepers

An ongoing research project into the tradition of doorkeepers and animal guardian figures.

The collected material and work in progress explore the wide-spread phenomenon of feline-like doorkeeper sculptures, such as the Egyptian and Greek sphinxes, dvarapala of the Hindu tradition, the doorkeeper lions of European middle ages, the Japanese koma-inu as well as the Chinese guardian lions.

​

I am interested in the phenomenon as a mode of expressing a tremendous non-human power and, as such,

a means to challenge the anthropocentric perspective. From the art-historical point of view, the sculptures still retain a great deal of the primary magical use of sculpture. They are artefacts with a strong presence marking a specific site and serving a specific function. In their stylisation, they often depart from a realistic representation of an animal and are strongly informed by the imaginations of their respective time and place of origin.

​

​

 

images of artworks, images from the research archive and studies in clay and silicone.

​

Ongoing, since 2018.