Sint Michaël & De Draak. 2019 – 2020

Sint Michael & de Draak, Team-Artwork by Dennie Boxem

YEAR:                  2020

MATERIALS:        Acrylic, pencil, three panelled wood, golden frame

SIZE:                    370 x 250 x 5 cm (143 x 98,8 x 1,9 inch)

PARTICIPANTS:   250

CATERGORY:      Unique

LOCATION:          Galerie Dennie Boxem Zwolle

PRICE:                 on request

Boxem painted Saint Michael, the archangel and patron of Zwolle, fighting the Dragon. Saint Michael has been Zwolle’s patron since the early middle ages, protecting them from evil, that has always been depicted as a Dragon.

‘Saint Michael & The Dragon’ is a large Team-Artwork and more than two hundred and fifty persons have contributed. The bodies of the two rivals are covered in tattoos that tell a story of Good versus Evil.

On the Dragon we see tattoos of (Michelangelo’s) Adam and (Rubens’) Eve grabbing the apple, the Amazone on fire, bio-industry, oil tankers polluting and a burned Australian koala. On Saint Michael we see windmills, God, Allah, Superman and “go vegan”.

The making of the team-artwork started at Bruisweken Zwolle. After this festival the painting was brought to Sint Micheals church (Academiehuis – Grote Kerk Zwolle). It was finished at the University of Applied Science Windesheim.

The names of all participant are written on the back of the artwork.

On 10-10-2019, the Dag van de Duurzaamheid (National Day of Sustainability), Dutch writer, scientist, former politician and climate activist Jan Terlouw (1931) contributed to the painting. Right after his lecture on climate change, visitors painted words of hope out of his lecture on Sint Michaels wings.