Dents De Lion by Teddy Hansen 2023

Media on canvas

(105×95 cm)

The piece is about people who don’t wish to pay for dentist bills. Instead of paying they have become boxers to deal with their rotting teeth. In the fore ground is the boxer happily holding his ice cream whilst punching away an apple because he no longer needs to worry about eating healthily. Along the bottom is a row of lions and a row of dandelions which represent the boxers teeth. The word Dandelion comes from the French ‘Dent De Lion’ meaning the teeth of the lion.
Boxers see themselves as the top of the food chain/king of the jungle (a.k.a the lion). At the top there is a lion leaping for the ice cream but it has turned black like a decaying tooth.