Joseph Klibansky.
Dutch contemporary artist. Born 1984 in South Africa, based in Amsterdam. A practice that insists on beauty as a serious proposition.
Chapter / 01
Origins.
Joseph Klibansky was born in Cape Town in 1984 and moved to the Netherlands as a young child. He grew up in Amsterdam, where the open canals and sober Dutch architecture sat alongside the more vivid colour palette he carried with him from South Africa. The contrast — measured surface versus saturated dream — became the seed of the work.
A practice across two decades.
1984
Born in Cape Town.
Joseph Klibansky is born in South Africa. The family relocates to the Netherlands.
2008
First solo exhibition.
Debut presentation in Amsterdam. Early paintings already work in composite, layering image and ground.
2014
First sculpture in polished bronze.
The shift from canvas to monumental sculpture begins. Astronaut, Mirror Sky enters production.
2019
International acquisitions.
Works enter major private collections across Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia.
2022
Moco Museum.
A solo presentation at Moco Museum, Amsterdam. The largest institutional survey of the practice to date.
2025
Superman x Klibansky.
The newest release. A signed and numbered edition marking a decade of polished surrealism.
Chapter / 03
Sculpture that holds its breath.
Sculptures are cast in bronze and stainless steel, finished in automotive paint and polished by hand until the surface mirrors the world around them. The figures pause inside the moving frame — a study in stillness placed inside motion.
Chapter / 04
Painting as composite.
Paintings begin as digital underpaintings — assembled from photographs, 3D renders and remembered light — then built up in oil and acrylic over months of work. The result occupies a space between dream and document.
“I want to make the impossible feel inevitable.”
Chapter / 05
Collections and commissions.
Works are held by international collectors including ABN AMRO MeesPierson, Soho House, and private collections across the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, the UAE and Hong Kong. Public commissions include site-specific sculpture for Scorpios Mykonos and a monumental outdoor work for the Moco Museum in Amsterdam.
Selected exhibitions.
Recent and upcoming presentations at museums and galleries worldwide.
Studio / Index
Explore
See the work.
Browse the catalogue of sculpture, painting and editions, or reach out to the studio directly.