Jos de Mey

(1990, 73x60 cm)

"The bagpiper from Brieghel's painting was removed from his lively scene of drunkards and dancers and transferred to a very lonely and cold setting. The only audience in this cold winter scene is an owl sitting on a dried up tree and even it turns away from the musician. The owl that keeps recurring in my works represents, for me, the ambiguity of symbols. The owl can just as easily symbolize (learning-) wisdom, as it can the 'odd fellow' often mentioned in Flemish sayings." /Jos de Mey/