Chris Nelck (2003, Delft, NL) is a Rotterdam-based visual artist. His practice utilizes painting, text and performance, exploring intimacy, the body and radical openness through a trans and queer perspective. Nelck approaches the personal as political material, making shame, desire and vulnerability explicit as acts of both resistance and connection.
Text plays a central role in his work, often extending the image to create narratives that balance between fiction and autobiography. Nelck's practice is characterized by a direct and embodied visual language in which fragility and strength exist simultaneously.
Nelck graduated cum laude in Fine Art from the Willem de Kooning Academy and completed an exchange at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo). His work has been exhibited at Brutus (Rotterdam), Galerie Ron Mandos (Amsterdam) and Kunstliefde (Utrecht). In 2026, he was selected for Muzen van Morgen, an initiative by AVROTROS supporting emerging artists.
Chris Nelck
chrisnelck@gmail.com
Based in Rotterdam
chrisnelck@gmail.com
Based in Rotterdam
My face is like an open book, people have told me this repeatedly throughout my life. My emotions are upfront and my features speak before I do.
I frown without thinking and smile without knowing.
My practice works in much the same way, I am open and direct. My secrets, shame, desires and emotions are there for everyone to see. I call this radical openness. For me, radical openness is a form of activism.
When I paint, I often feel like I am building a bridge between myself and the viewer. My paintings allow me to share personal and intimate emotions and feel at peace with doing so. They are hairy and vulnerable. Powerful and fragile.
