Description
THE ARTIST
Born in 1958 in Brussels into a family of artists, Nicolas Alquin, after studying art restoration at the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions, attended the studios of sculptors Reinhoud d’Haese and Étienne Martin. He develops his artistic vocabulary through three principal vectors: wood (direct carving); beeswax carved and modeled in the mass (sometimes cast in bronze); and sepia or black ink (for brush washes).
Reversing the precepts of post-minimal sculpture, he unfolds a practice that intensely revisits art history, drawing equally on marginal references and the grand tradition of sculpture. In a constant dialogue between Judeo-Christian heritage and the influence of so-called “primitive” arts on contemporary creation, Nicolas Alquin materializes through his works a reflection on the relationships between the visible and the ineffable, the hand and the mind, mastery and chance. Thus, he does not hesitate to appropriate so-called “traditional” techniques (notably direct wood carving and bronze chasing), infusing them with diverse influences and placing them in renewed perspective.
Excerpt from a text by Marc Bembekoff
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Revealed Woods, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, Center for Art and Nature
2024 Heaven’s Door, Kamil Gallery / Birch Gallery, Monaco
2023 She and the Path, Fontevraud Abbey, France
2021 Sculptures, Galerie Marie-Ange Boucher, Brussels, Belgium
2019 Stories of Sculptins, French Consular Villa, Liège, Belgium
2018 Saint-Pierre-la-Cour Collegiate Church, Le Mans2017 House of Music and Dance, Bagneux
2017 Galerie Devillez, Brussels
2016 “De toutes pièces”, Galerie Maeght, Paris
2016 “Nicolas Alquin, Sculpture and Xylotraces”, Galerie Simonici, Luxembourg
2015 Art Paris Art Fair, Galerie Koralewski
2014 Presences of Life on Aquilon Silcan, Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium
2013 Wood and Derivatives, Hospice Saint Roch Museum, Issoudun, France
Arsenal Museum and Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, Soissons, France
Campredon Museum, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
2012 Of Wax and Wood, Galerie Le Salon d’Art, Brussels, Belgium
2008 Portraits of Stars, Galerie Guigon, Paris
2007 Constellations, Galleria Del Leone, Venice, Italy
2006 Celestial Bodies, Linéart, Paule de Boeck Fine Arts booth, Ghent, Belgium
2005 Driftwood, Ixelles Museum, Brussels
Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, Brussels
Alquin’s Studio, Coubertin Foundation Museum, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, France
2004 Glimpses, Galleria del Leone, Venice
2003 Galerie Michèle Broutta, Paris
2002 Close-Up on Alquin, Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation
2000 Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, Brussels
1999 Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, FIAC, Paris
Chapel of the Penitents, Clermont-l’Hérault, and Abbey of Gellone, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, France
1998 Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium
1996 Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, Brussels
Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, FIAC, Paris
1993 Galerie Fred Lanzenberg, Brussels
1992 Les Passantes, Galerie du Jour–Agnes B, Paris
1991 Galerie Erval, FIAC, Paris
Les Stylites, Prieuré Saint-Michel, Crouttes, France
1990 Museum of Contemporary Art, Dunkirk, France
Le Botanique Cultural Center, Brussels
Galerie Bernard Cats, Brussels
1988 Galerie Maeght, Paris
1987 Galerie Maeght, Barcelona, Spain
1986 Des Éclipses, Galerie Maeght, Paris
Galerie Le Salon d’Art, Brussels
French Cultural Center, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
1985 Municipal Theater of Caen, France
1984 Maisons en tête, Galerie Erval, Paris
1982 Sculptures and Sculptins, Galerie Erval, FIAC, Paris
1981 From Tree to House, Galerie Pierre Vanderborght, Brussels
MONUMENTS AND PUBLIC ACQUISITIONS
2022 Liturgical furnishings, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, Sceaux
2020 Liturgical furnishings, Chapel of the Catholic Institute of Lille
2018 May Peace Be with You, Notre-Dame-de-La-Treille Cathedral, Lille
2018 War Memorial, Brunoy, France
2017 Calvary of the Sailors of Dunkirk, Dunkirk
2013 Haris, Guardian of the North, Museum of Soissons
2012 Saint Joseph, Parish of Saint-Joseph, Montrouge
2010 Altar, ambo, and tabernacle, Chapel of the House of the Servants of the Word, Charenton
2009 Perseus and Andromeda, Yerres Cultural Center
2008 Via Orange, sculpture for Orange–France Telecom, Arcueil
Word of the Abyss, House of the French Bishops’ Conference, Paris
2007 Solitude, Monument to Resistant Slaves, Bagneux
2004 Saint Joseph, Kliniek Sint Jozef, Pittem, Belgium
2002 Cross of Hope, Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance Church, Paris
Facing the Zenith, Customs Hotel, Annecy
Passage of Fire, Beelden aan Zee Museum, Scheveningen, Netherlands
Altar and Cross, Varennes-Jarcy Church
2001 Clay Heart, Clermont-l’Hérault
1998 Words in Memory of Victims of Terrorism, fountain, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris
Judith, Place Albert I, Brussels
Saint-Benoît Fountain, Île-de-France Water Authority
1996 Judith, Beelden aan Zee Museum, Netherlands
1993 The Newborn, Veranneman Foundation, Belgium
1991 Gaspard, Museum of Contemporary Art, Dunkirk
1989 Day of Desert, Museum of Sacred Art, Lille
1987 The Star Composter, Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas Church, Paris
1982 Sleeper, National Contemporary Art Fund, France
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
2014 Grand Prix Léon-Georges Baudry, Taylor Foundation, Paris
2007 Charles and Christiane Oulmont Foundation Prize, Paris
2004 Enku Award, Gifu, Japan
2002 Poznań International Sculpture Biennale Prize, Poland
2001 Grand Prix Prince Pierre of Monaco
1997 Sculpture Prize, Academy of Fine Arts, Simone and Cino del Duca Foundation
1988 Leonardo da Vinci Prize, Abidjan
1987 Villa Médicis Prize (Off-site), Verona, Italy
MAJOR GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Art and Spirituality in Troyes, France
2021 Birch Gallery: CoBrA and Friends (continuous exhibition)
2020 International Fund of Contemporary Art of Le Mans
Birch Gallery, Art Herning, Denmark
2019 Sculpt’ en Sologne, Guest of Honor
2018 Brafa Art Fair, Brussels
2016 Alquin, Amorim, de Torhout, Taylor Foundation
2015 Bronzes, Galerie Maeght, Paris
2014 Flag France Renaissance, Shanghai
2013 Flag France Renaissance, Château de la Celle-Saint-Cloud
2012 Drawings, Galerie Guigon
2011 Bodies and Souls, Galerie Koralewski
2010 Yerres Sculpture Biennale
2006 Poznan International Sculpture Triennale
2004 Moi! Self-Portrait of the 20th Century, Luxembourg Museum, Paris
2001 Movement 134, Tokyo
1996 Scottsdale Center for the Arts, USA
1995 Marlborough Gallery, New York
1987 Carte Blanche to Ten Young Artists, Centre Pompidou
1984 French Association for Artistic Action, Dakar & Abidjan