Erik van Lieshout - Do not live with him

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"People ought to be overwhelmed by my work, and confused, because it is cheerful, intimate and yet sombre; they can then enjoy the latent humour. Nonetheless, something should linger so that they can head straight for the pub to drink away the uncomfortable associations." – Erik van Lieshout

Two years after his murder in 2002, anti-immigration and outspoken anti-Islamic politician Pim Fortuyn was voted the greatest Dutchman in history in last month’s Dutch television poll. The nation-wide poll followed on the heels of the assassination, Dutch-style by a cycling assassin, of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh (who illustrated the danger espousing right-wing views while riding a bicycle through Amsterdam). Van Gogh was completing a film about Pim Fortuyn entitled Cool.

Caesar realised only too late (‘Et tu Brutus?’) that there are no true friends in politics. Shortly after the 2002 Dutch elections, Rotterdam-based artist Erik van Lieshout argued bitterly with his best friend Geert, who voted for Fortuyn's party. After two years of angry silence, the friends re-united. Van Lieshout's film Do not live with him, but give to him contains scenes of armchair low-blow political wrangling between the two friends interwoven with footage from demonstrations following van Gogh's assassination and van Lieshout's interviews with right-wing politicians. Encapsulated in a gallery-wide installation comprising a video, installation and drawings, Do not live with him, but give to him takes the often-lauded Dutch model of liberal democracy and looks at what can happen when these ideals rub up against the messy stuff of radicalism, self-appointed segregation and religious fundamentalism.

The title of the exhibition is derived from the line ‘Geef niet om hem maar aan hem’ which the artist Jack Segbars utilised in light sculpture on the Pauluskerk in Rotterdam. This is Erik van Lieshout’s first solo show in the UK.

Exhibition

5 Feb 05 - 20 Mar 05 | Man in the Holocene, London, UK

Commissioned by Man in the Holocene, 2005
Presentation supported by Forma
Exhibition supported by Mondrian Foundation