Daniel Lismore is a London and Coventry based artist; A Living Sculpture who creates elaborate, extravagant, three-dimensional tableaux of figurative sculptures crafted like tapestries; Each artwork is created from fragments of items previously worn by the artist, meshing history and futurism whilst reflecting the world in which he exists.
Lismore has been a prominent fixture on the London Fashion and Art circuits and an activist for Human Rights and the environment for 20 years. His evolution as a living sculpture was fuelled by a childhood growing up in his father’s antique auction house where historic regalia; priceless exquisitely, hand-made treasures, artworks, taxidermy, weaponry and suits-of-armour were assembled alongside collectible Star War figures and Star Trek memorabilia.
Although he started his career as an artist from the perspective of the outsider, working as a photographer within a year he had moved in front of the lens as a model, later emerging as a creative consultant for Mert & Marcus, Steven Klein, Martin Parr, David LaChapelle and Ellen von Unwerth.
Lismore has been named by Vogue as ‘England’s Most Eccentric Dresser’. In 2017 he was selected in the top hundred of the Out 100 List. In 2018 and 2020 he was named in the top hundred, Guardian’s Pride Power List.
In 2016, Daniel Lismore became the Circuit Ambassador for the Tate Museums. It was here that Lismore hosted his first two exhibitions in Tate Modern 2012 and Tate Britain 2013 featuring self portraits.
Daniel Lismore’s first book, ‘Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken,’ published by Rizzoli in 2016, documented the 32 figurative sculptures of Lismore which comprised his first USA museum exhibition. The exhibition was co-curated by Savannah College of Art and Design and was later displayed at Miami Art Basel.
In May 2017 Lismore exhibited at the Venice Biennale.
In June 2018, Lismore curated a month long show of his work at Harpa Hall in Iceland as the highlight of the Reykjavik Arts Festival. The exhibition subsequently toured Europe, opening at the Pan Museum in Naples and Stary Brower Gallery in Poznań, Poland. The exhibition was attended by over 100,000 visitors.
Since 2018 Lismore been a Global Ambassador for Graduate Fashion Week, which reflects the 6 years he spent as creative director of luxury women’s wear brand Sorapol, dressing Maria Cary, Cara Delevingne and Nicky Minaj.
Lismore has long been an active campaigner for the recycling of clothes and in 2015 became the face of the H&M Close the Loop campaign to encourage the practice of recycling clothes.
Daniel Lismore is an ambassador of the climate change charity Cool Earth and has worked closely with Vivienne Westwood on her Climate Revolution projects.
He has appeared in numerous Bulgari Campaigns and featured in TV shows, including Sky Arts Portrait of The Year, Marina Abramovic Takes Over TV, Statues Redressed. In 2015 he made a cameo appearance in the movie Absolutely Fabulous.
In April 2019 Lismore gave a TED Talk at the main TED conference in Vancouver, titled “My Life As A Work Of Art” in which he spoke about his life as a Living Sculpture.
In September 2019, Lismore opened Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief runway show at the British Museum revealing one of the first costumes he designed for the English National Opera (in collaboration with Swarovski) for Harrison Birtwistle’s iconic opera, The Mask of Orpheus which was staged at the London Coliseum.
Since the Covid 19 pandemic, Lismore has been residing between Coventry and London working on LGBTQ+ activism and new art works. His show Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken is opening in February 2022 in Coventry City UK Capital of Culture at the Herbert Art Gallery And Museum.
