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Would those two concrete dogs guard your bicycle? For a moment, the thought flashes through your mind. The bicycle stands so close to the railway viaduct immediately evoke associations with a bicycle shed. A bit of a strange place, though, as the train does not stop here. The nearest stop is on the other side of the neighbourhood. The bright red colour of the dogs and the way the stands have been placed around the small area as a demarcation, suggest that it is something else. The repetition of their shape in the larger octagonal cast-iron sculptures behind them also points to this.

The sculpture turns out to be one of seven that artist duo LaSalle made for De Dijken in Leidschenveen. If you look closely, you can see scratched figures on the skin of the two large sculptures that you also see in the other sculptures. Oak leaves, for instance, or lace rugs. Such patterns counterbalance the large, abstract forms of the sculptures. So does the organic structure of the stones on the ground. The duo has even hidden their own logo (LaSalle) in them.

The reason for this sculpture was a fence that the artist duo once found on a farm near Veenendaal. They combined this with patterns that certain African tribes ritually apply to their skin.