Freelance Filmmaker
Erik van Lieshout’s work explores themes often rooted in his experience of living and working in the Netherlands but nevertheless relevant to contemporary experience across Europe and beyond. For his solo show at the SLG three video works are housed in an immersive architectural environment in the main gallery characterised by an absurdist sense of humour and provocative questioning of the role of art and artists in society. All three works feature Van Lieshout, whose actions and statements blur performance with reality, dead-pan humour with utmost sincerity, and ambiguity of meaning with a sometimes disarming directness.
The exhibition features Van Lieshout’s video works The Basement (2014), a study of cats living in the tunnels underneath St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, Ego (2013) which focuses on the artist’s family members, and Janus (2012), an investigation into the life of a deceased man and his collection of art and bric-a-brac.