Johannes Petrus Antonius ‘Joep’ van Lieshout was born in Ravenstein, in 1963. He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam (1980-1985), where he began producing organic-looking furniture with a surrealistic slant, and angular iron sculptures. During his time at the Ateliers’63 in Haarlem (1985-1987), he adopted polyester as a creative material.

The works of the time, inspired by pop art examples, comprised stacked beer crates and paving stones, and other materials, subverting their expected assembly and use through artistic re-appropriation. Through this process, daily life is aestheticised. Hence the artist’s branching out into design or mass-produced designer objects, such as furniture.

Indeed, in 1995, Van Lieshout founded the Atelier Van Lieshout, a workshop of artists and employees based in Rotterdam. They produce commissioned as well as free work. Atelier Van Lieshout makes autonomous works of art, in particular objects that move along the border between visual and applied art. Van Lieshout makes images that strongly resemble utensils and, in some cases, really are functional. His sculptures are intended to confuse the viewer and sharpen their view of everyday objects. In this way, he tries to narrow the gap between art and everyday life.
Van Lieshout’s recent solo exhibitions include: EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (2022); Opening Exhibition, ROOF-A, Rotterdam (2022); World Expo 2020, The Netherlands Pavilion, Dubai (2022); Oil  –  Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2022); Kunst aan de Schinkel, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation, Amsterdam (2022); Outdoor Sculpture, Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vermont (2022); Blast Furnace, Art OMI, Ghent, New York (2021).
The artist has been awarded the Charlotte Kohler Prize (1991) and the Prix de Rome for Sculpture (1992).