Covid-19
Mixed media
300 x 110 x 162 cm
Covid-19 (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
Kelder, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Easy Up Chair
Mixed media
100 x 148 x 137 cm
Easy Up Chair (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Asher
Mixed media
100 x 95 x 136 cm
Asher (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Moonsuits
Mixed media
55 x 105 x 190 cm
Moonsuits (2010) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Wooden Lung
Mixed media
250 x 80 x 230 cm
Wooden Lung (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Le Voyage’, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
The Beginning of Everything on Concrete Base
Fiberglass
105 x 105 x 252 cm
The Beginning of Everything on Concrete Base (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Rooftop Installation’, ROOF-A, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
The Head
Copper
550 x 550 x 1000 cm
This iconic work of art was realised in honour of the sixtieth anniversary of the University of Twente. The ten-metre high work of art has been given a prominent place at the entrance to the university campus.
The Head marks the possibilities and dilemmas on the eve of the fourth industrial revolution, where the boundaries between the physical, digital and biological worlds are blurred. Visitors can not only look at the artwork from the outside, but also climb inside. A narrow staircase takes you to a platform on top of the head, where you have a view over the campus on the one hand and the Kennispark innovation campus on the other.
Incubator
Mixed media
115 x 60,3 x 149 cm
Incubator (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Thor
Mixed media
250 x 60 x 265 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Des Duivels Wandelstok
Mixed media
360 x 90 x 250 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Dance
Fiberglass
240 x 240 x 250 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Victory
Mixed media
120 x 243 x 254 cm
Victory (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Fake Me Hard’, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Hamer
Wood, steel
635 x 290 x 210 cm
Hamer (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘De Verleiding’, Bosch Parade, ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Tronende Moeder
Bronze
38 x 40 x 60 cm
Of all the saints, Mary became the most popular in Christianity during the Middle Ages. She was depicted countless times, often as the virgin with the young Christ child in her lap. She embodies hope and love, much needed qualities in the millennium between the end of the Western Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance.
The Dark Ages are often viewed as a period of regression. The artistic knowledge that enabled the ancient Greeks and Romans to create perfectly sculpted bodies had been lost. Nevertheless, the primitive Medieval Marys with child have great emotional power in Joep van Lieshout’s eyes. His own version is an ode to that primal expressivity made from amateur-grade materials by purposely denying academic skills.
Tronende Moeder (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Utopia‘, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Knights
Steel
L: 115 x 50 x 168 cm
S: 88 x 33 x 104 cm
Knights (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Utopia‘, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Descent
Bronze
95 x 70 x 115 cm
Descent (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Utopia‘, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR), 2022
‘Art Bogota’, Bogota (CO), 2014
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Courting Birds Lamp
COR-ten steel
81 x 48 x 109 cm
Courting Birds (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Roof Installation’, ROOF-A, Rotterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Muze
Fiberglass
72 x 50 x 174 cm
Muze (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Utopia‘, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Fertility
Fiberglass
75 x 80 x 245 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Le Whale
COR-ten steel
1300 x 430 x 400 cm
Le Whale rests on the shore, not unlike the catch brought in by the whalers of centuries past. The majestic animal will not be dissected for blubber to fuel lamps or grease machinery, however, as it’s made of steel. It appears more similar to a barge, than a marine mammal.
Le Whale is Atelier Van Lieshout’s salute to nature’s power, human technological ingenuity and the ways these often clash. Moreover, it’s a life-size reference to Moby Dick, the world’s most famous whale. In Joep van Lieshout’s view, Moby Dick is a tale of revenge and the struggle of man, personified by Captain Ahab vs. nature. It’s rather telling that in the end, man – who considers himself above nature -is defeated by the forces he tries to control and master.
Van Lieshout’s Le Whale is Ahab’s nemesis and Old Testaments Jonah’s organic prison rolled into one. The animal has outsmarted its pursuers, but has also partly become them by transforming into a welded steel hulk. Holes in its side allow people to look into its belly, where one sees a figure in the middle of the whale. This could be Jonah praying for his salvation or a present-day Ahab pondering his warped relationship with nature.
The Whale (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Arts Le Havre, Le Havre (FR)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
La Masseuse
Bronze
60 x 50 x 39 cm
For a long time already rats have played a role in culture and science. Where the animals often invoke a sense of fear and horror, Atelier Van Lieshout would like to stress their positive sides. They are considered highly intelligent, are adaptive if the environment changes, agile and sensitive, and very able to take care of themselves. And of others. A friend that looks out for its peers and gives them a little squeeze when needed.
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Body Armour
Mixed media
50 x 48 x 197 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
2021
Mixed media
160 x 130 x 215 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Sad Weelchair
Mixed media
89 x 87 x 92 cm
Sad Weelchair (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Le Voyage’, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Green Madonna
Mixed media
62 x 80 x 183 cm
The Madonna and child Michelangelo carved from marble in 1505 is a melancholic sculpture. Maria’s sad look betrays her knowledge of her child’s future and the toddler Christ hangs at her knee as if grasping at the last scraps of childhood. Atelier Van Lieshout’s Green Madonna exudes the opposite atmosphere to Michelangelo’s masterpiece. The child has combatively raised itself up and the mother is determined to protect her progeny – so much so in fact, that she has merged with her weapon that calls to mind Soviet workers’ tools. Their camouflage makes them unseen and changes their nudity into a sort of body painted armour. Both stare like militant proletarians in old Soviet posters confidently in the same direction, into a future situated somewhere beyond the viewer.
Green Madonna (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘EHBO’, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Elyxer
Fiberglass, steel
120 x 120 x 202 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
The Developer
Foam, fiberglass
85 x 100 x 222 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Tinder Trechter
Foam and fiberglass
95 x 110 x 235 cm
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Operating Table with Devil
Mixed media
180 x 160 x 199 cm
Life and death go hand in hand in operating theatres. It’s where the medical belief in engineerability clashes with the unpredictability and irrationality of fate. It’s also the place where the sins of human kind are visited upon the individual, be it a disease or deformation resulting from environmental pollution or ailments caused by fastfood and a rushed life.
In Operating Table with Devil the natural order of things has been deeply disturbed. A baby performs its own ceasarian not unlike the monsterous extraterrestials in Alien while the mother gives birth to a grown man. Freudian sexuality, fear of the future and the utter failure of scientific rationality come together in this surrealist sculpture.
Operating Table with Devil (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Kelder – Obsessions, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL)
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Dental Wheel Chair
Mixed media
137 x 95 x 200 cm
Patients can be made as comfortable as possible using improvised means. So the chair has been angled and the headrest wrapped. The cuspidor for blood and rinsing water is so large it cannot be missed.
The duty dentist has a mobile practice to work with that is more akin to a workshop than a medical treatment setting. The parts originate from home decoration or DIY centres. Pulled teeth are collected in jam jars so new dentures can be made from them at the dental lab.
Dental Wheel Chair (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
Kelder – Obsessions, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Sportzone
Mixed media
104 x 89 x 169 cm
Sportzone(2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Le Voyage’, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
‘Kelder’, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
‘EHBO’, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
‘Fake Me Hard’, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Crucifix
Mixed media
175 x 190 x 360 cm
Crucifix (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Fake Me Hard’, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Anatomy Lesson
Mixed media
310 x 238 x 196 cm
Anatomy Lesson (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘EHBO’, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Happy End of Everything
Steel
Diverse measurements
Happy End of Everything’ includes a bar, a smoking table and a cooking installation where people can eat, drink and smoke without limits. However, each part of the installation is also destructive. The cooker contains an ‘Incinerator’, an incinerator with such a high temperature that everything evaporates. The drinks and smoking table contains a ‘Drop Hammer’ that shatters everything into dust. The final component is the ‘Pyrolyzer’, a mobile refinery that makes diesel and oil from collected plastic waste.
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Fasces
Mixed media
Diverse measurements
Fasces consist of bundles of rods bound by a red leather strap, sometimes including an axe with its blade sticking out. As a symbol, the fasces originated in Etruscan civilisation and was passed on to ancient Rome where it represented a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction. The rods symbolised the ‘power to punish’, the axe stood for the ‘power over life and death’ and the strap signified the ‘power to arrest’.
The fasces were later adopted by numerous governments and authorities. In 1792, the First French Republic used the fasces as a symbol for its political entity. A century later the bound rods and axe were included in the US Senate seal. In the early 20th century, the fasces became identified with Benito Mussolini’s authoritarian regime in Italy. The term ‘fascism’ is derived from this word.
Fasces are all about strength in unity. A single rod may be brittle and weak, but bound together in an orderly manner they become unbreakable. Atelier Van Lieshout’s versions of the fasces, however, lack strength and order. The rods used are of inferior quality and the thing is sloppily assembled. The organising system is obviously a failure, resulting in laughable weakness and a pompous display of impotence. These fasces are a parody of the symbol that represents a system geared towards domination, but historically bound for implosion because of inconsistency, irrationality and infighting.
Fasces (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘EHBO’, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Destiny
Bronze
115 x 95 x 80 cm
In western art, monkeys and apes are often depicted as naughty, shameless animals with no self-control and overactive libidos. They are the devil’s henchmen or even the latter’s incarnations. In 17th-century painting, chained monkeys symbolised mankind imprisoned by lust.
However, in Joep van Lieshout’s view, apes represent raw energy and a zest for life. They tried to shackle the old alpha male and oust him from his place, but he broke free from expectations, obligations and the churning wheels of time in order to rule supreme. Even though he is subject to fate and has to accept any unlucky roll of the dice, he is still on top of his game and unwilling to give up without a fight.
Destiny (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘ Form Follows Energy‘, LAGO / ALGO, Mexico City (MX)
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com