Joost van den Toornartist • sculptorAmsterdam 1954

The Dutch sculptor Joost van den Toorn studied at the Rietveld Academy from 1976 to 1980 and has since built up a rich body of work. His images can be recognized by the combination of diverse themes such as violence, sex and religion, which go together effortlessly. He achieves this by often literally stacking the visual elements on top of each other and knows how to draw attention to the themes in a grim, but also humorous way. He borrows his shapes from kitsch sculpture, children's clay work and motifs from history. Van den Toorn collects outsider art himself. His collection of sculptures, collages and drawings, along with his own work, was exhibited in the Kröller-Müller Museum in 2010.