Sculptural Drama Steals the Spotlight in This St Vincents Show

Henri Delbarre and Geraldine Jackman have an eye for talent. Founders of St Vincents, a 9-year-old boutique gallery in Antwerp, Belgium, dedicated to craftsmanship-focused contemporary design and applied arts, they were one of the first to represent Apparatus and Anna Karlin in Europe. They have discovered another rising talent: Nick Valentijn, whom the two met for coffee upon the heels of his graduation last year from the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts & Design and are now hosting his debut exhibition appropriately titled “Solo Show.”

“Nick’s work holds a unique tension,” the gallerists say, “both precise and refined, yet a little unproportionate, bulky, and carefree. It stuck with us.” Us too. The dozen pieces range from an anthropomorphic candle holder that was part of Valentijn’s graduation project to a low-slung, golden credenza, both rendered large-scale and in specially treated metal, so that they’re monumental, sculptural. “I like to see how far I can strip function away,” says Valentijn, who makes all his creations by hand, flowing from sketch to cut to weld, omitting preparatory models, “before an object becomes something else entirely.”

Check Out the Works From Nick Valentijn’s “Solo Show”