German artist Willehad Eilers, based in Amsterdam, draws on his roots in graffiti and the satirical tradition of George Grosz and Otto Dix to create crowded scenes that probe modern excess. His paintings, drawings, videos, and installations marry loose, improvised marks with deliberate detail, exposing the absurd rituals of consumer culture without offering moral judgment. Influenced equally by street art’s raw energy and an anthropological desire to observe rather than preach, Eilers uses humor, caricature, and grotesque exaggeration to question what happens when comfort and self-promotion replace genuine struggle. By bringing this unflinching social mirror from underground contexts into major museums and biennials, he has expanded the conversation about how contemporary art can critique society while remaining visually direct and engaging.
Willehad's studio
I have a coffee and look at what I did the previous day. Try to make sense of it and plan the next steps.
Music of any kind. Podcasts are not allowed in my studio.
I like black ink. But if there was no black ink, i would still enjoy to continue living.
Willehad Eilers, Freude, Heiterkeit, Leichtigkeit (2025)
Right now, nature. Meadows, weeds, trees, leaves, creeks, earth, grass, roots, indifference, sexdrive, death, unfairness, neglect, shelter, comfort, desease, sex, neglect, etc. So, Bob Ross, in a way, at least that is what my recent work looks like.
A public fountain.
Do it now, doubt it later.
I would love to show in a palazzo.
The kind of Mescal that tastes like burned rubber.
Willehad's notebook
I am in my studio office hours. Nine to five. Then I go home. At home I will draw and listen to quiet music.
To kill a mocking bird.
My taste and preferences matter to nobody but myself.
Nothing is forever.
"I think you can get away with this."
I follow random strangers in the pedestrian area for joy.
I try to have an adventurous approach to life in general, but usually it is limited to my work.
Wander around aimlessly like a leaf in the wind.
I aim to stop trying to master anything and work nude and vulnerable.
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