Erik Van Lieshout, Netherlands

Erik is one of Holland’s most prominent artists and his provocative works treat sex, violence, politics, and commercial culture with equal humour, candor, and irreverence.

Trained as a painter, van Lieshout became well-known in the 1990s for his expressionistic canvases and large-scale drawings which merge graphic images of drugs, pornography, and street culture with a range of media figures including Burka-clad women, Batman, and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Van Lieshout places himself directly in the center of his videos using his experience as a crucible to interpret the complex psychology of a nation grappling with immigration, tolerance, colonialism, and sexuality.