Erik van Lieshout

Erik van Lieshout created this work in response to a still of a cruise ship entering Rotterdam during lockdown, where its staff disembarked at the New York hotel, so they could go back home to America. In light of the measures imposed on all of us during the Corona crisis, Van Lieshout started to investigate how the virus not only put a hold on daily life, infecting human bodies, but also infected the art market, the art world and the economy. The resulting drawings, collages and video work present a journal-like report of day-to-day life under the Coronavirus lockdown: the aimlessly floating cruise ships, the political grandstanding, the economic downturn and near collapse of the EU, the renewed joy in nature, the social unrest, the boredom. In typical fashion, Van Lieshout employs bold statements to uncover the subtler points of the anxiety surrounding the Coronavirus and its impact.