Atelier Van Lieshout

Vulture

2022

Composite
430 x 215 x 515 cm

Vultures are as imposing as they are repulsive. Death is near when this scavenger arrives. However, vultures are also resourceful, persistent and an indispensable link in many ecosystems.

Joep van Lieshout has depicted a stylised vulture: powerful, yet cold, far from approachable. This beast has the beauty of efficient kitchen tools. Lacking the nobility of an eagle or hawk, birds that, unlike the vulture, often appear in family crests and on flags. Anyone who sits on this sculpture’s pedestal takes a seat on the vulture throne; the seat of an amoral ruler. However, beneath the herald of death’s talons lies an egg: a symbol of new life.

According to Van Lieshout, artists are comparable to vultures. They devour everything that might serve as inspiration, old and new, and are viewed with suspicion. Van Lieshout would have preferred to see collectors viewed as vultures: as they hungrily circle vulnerable art.

Vulture (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Franziska, D’Haus, Düsseldorf (DE), 2022 – 2023
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam (NL), 2024

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com