Performance Database

Joep van Lieshout lives and works in Rotterdam. He started out as a solo artist, and rose to fame in the early eighties, producing objects in bright coloured polyester -  the material that would become his trademark. In 1995 he founded Atelier Van Lieshout, undermining the myth of the individual artistic genius.

Atelier Van Lieshout produces objects that balance on the boundary between art, architecture and design. Recurring themes in the work of Atelier Van Lieshout are power, politics and autarky, as well as a fascination for life, its creation and its end in death. With this body of work, both autonomous and commissioned, Atelier Van Lieshout has attained international recognition, with exhibitions at major art institutions and collections worldwide.