Erik van Lieshout: Three Social Works

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. His SLG show brings together works that draw on socio-political observations, marginalised identities and the role of the artist in society. Interconnected architectural environments house three videos characterised by an absurdist sense of humour and ranging from a study of cats living in the basement of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, through to interviews with the artist’s family members, and a series of monologues set against an investigation into the life of a deceased man called Janus.

The exhibition features van Lieshout’s video works The Basement (2014), Ego (2013), and Janus (2012), which are screened in large-scale environments created especially for the SLG’s main gallery.