Mozes
2020
Fiberglass
512 x 210 x 225 cm
Atelier Van Lieshout’s sculptures always start with the sketches Joep van Lieshout makes hundreds of every month. Over the past six years, a rhino increasingly kept cropping up. Van Lieshout saw himself in it. He also only has two modes: rest and contemplation or relentless forward motion.
The sculpture he subsequently created of a giant rhino with a labyrinthine structure drilled into it ended up in his studio due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the postponement of KadS. Van Lieshout used the lockdown to turn out dozens of sculptures at high speed, often with Christian themes. The descents from the cross and the last supper depict and comment on the values of human existence that were so constrained by the virus.
Surrounded by religious iconography Van Lieshout suddenly realised: that rhino is the place for Moses, the prophet who led the Jews to the promised land and received God’s ten commandments on Mount Sinai. He fitted the sculpture with a heavy, armoured door that locks from the inside so you can hide in the belly of the beast. Once rejuvenated, you can come storming out with your own version of the stone tablets.
However, the sculpture isn’t just for solo use. It provides room for four or five people. Metal rings on the wall suggest hedonistic rituals could take place. The sculpture’s bronze appearance reinforces the impression of it being an idol. Typical for Atelier Van Lieshout’s tendency to be ambiguous, the rhino is an armoured warrior and a sacrificial animal in one. An incubator for high ideals and a breeding ground for the most base instincts.
Mozes (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Kunst aan de Schinkel, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com