stalking hieronymus
'Stalking Hieronymus' by Belgian painter Hans Vandekerckhove visibly merges two sources of inspiration: Jeroen (or Hieronymus) Bosch' painting 'St. Jerome at Prayer' and Andrei Tarkovsky's film 'Stalker'.
Through all three artworks runs the theme of the solitary pilgrim on an existential/religious journey, in a surrounding of contrasts. From Bosch' dual landscape with an idyllic green world and a dark underworld; to Tarkovsky's post-apocalyptic Zone as the only place where the character of Stalker can find peace; to Vandekerckhove's violent, hallucinatory colors that at the same time evoke an oriental serenity. (For more interpretation of the painting, see this essay.)
Seen at an exhibition organized by Yot in the Magdalena church in Bruges. As a nice symbolic detail, metal nuts with trails of white cloth tied to them - like Stalker uses to find his way in the Zone - could be found in various places in the church.