Blinde trol in boomstam - Lou Strik

A surrealist coloured pencil drawing by Lou Strik, featuring a blind troll head atop a tree trunk containing a female torso.

This work by the Dutch artist Lou Strik, titled Blinde trol in boomstam (Blind Troll in Tree Trunk), displays the meticulous draughtsmanship characteristic of his later career. Executed in coloured pencil between 1979 and 1980, the composition presents a surreal assemblage of organic and figurative elements. A large, weathered head with a blind, milky eye rests atop a severed tree trunk, which itself contains a carved or embedded female torso. The base is surrounded by tall, sharp grasses and a collection of stones, one of which bears a resemblance to a sleeping or fossilised primate head.

Strik, known for his graphic work and printmaking, often explored themes of decay, metamorphosis, and the uncanny. The rendering of the skin on the central head is particularly notable, showing a textured, almost pathological surface that contrasts with the smooth, wooden grain of the trunk. The colour palette remains grounded in earthy tones, with muted greens, browns, and flesh-coloured pigments that unify the disparate objects within the frame. The precision of the line work suggests a background in etching and engraving, where every stroke serves to define form and shadow with absolute clarity.

This piece avoids traditional narrative structures, instead offering a visual puzzle that invites close inspection. The juxtaposition of the human-like troll, the classical torso, and the primitive stone head creates a sense of temporal displacement. It is a work that occupies the space between natural history illustration and psychological fantasy, typical of the artist's interest in the strange and the overlooked. The composition is contained and balanced, with the verticality of the grasses framing the central, static figures. It remains a curious example of late twentieth-century Dutch surrealist drawing, reflecting a personal iconography that is both unsettling and technically refined.