Niels Kalk is an artist based in Berlin and the Netherlands. He has a knack for drawing characters, cutting & pasting collages and creating album covers. Sometimes his creations end up in an animation or music video. You can find his original art at exhibitions or in a gallery. For prints and other products, you can visit his webshop.

Niels illustrates and creates characters for clients while also working as a fine artist using the technique of collage and making drawings by hand.

Growing up in the 80s in the north of the Netherlands, Niels busied] himself indoors with drawing, reading comics, playing computer games on the Commodore, watching cartoons at Grandma’s (she had cable), and with the toys he built from Lego. When outside it was mostly building huts, BMX and skateboarding which kept him entertained. The comics, cartoons and imagery from skateboarding culture were a great source of inspiration. From his father’s bundled Mad Magazines to watching Looney Tunes, tiny Niels took it all in. Later in life, it was absurd television programmes that sparked his imagination, like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Young Ones, Jiskefet… So it was no surprise that after finishing high school, he applied to an art academy.

At the turn of the century, he graduated from Academie Minerva, majoring in illustration. After his studies, Niels mainly focused on illustration assignments for magazines. In Rotterdam, he joined agency Shop Around and did illustration work for numerous brands, children’s media and later designed characters for an animated series. After about a decade, Niels returned to a more traditional way of working. Using the collage technique, he created surrealistic, sometimes absurdist works. These handmade collages were shown and sold at art markets and various exhibitions and have garnered widespread popularity. Several of his creations have since appeared in magazines, on posters and used for book and album covers. Recently, his art was used in animated form for a music video and a video installation at Hotel Berlin

Exhibitions etc

  • 2010 POPJUGEND Group Exhibition – ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
  • 2011 Groupshow ‘Popjugend Shows Character’ – Blooom // Cologne, Germany
  • 2013 Solo Exhibition ‘Falling Up’ – Untertitel // Berlin, Germany
    Exhibition Booth at Stroke Art Fair – Alte Münze // Berlin, Germany
  • 2014 Solo Exhibition ‘Good Company’ – BOHEI // Berlin, Germany
  • 2015 Group Exhibition – Port of Art 1 – Fata Morgana // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition – Port of Art 2 – Pop-up Gallery // Berlin, Germany
    Solo Exhibition ‘Shut up I’m Dreaming’ – Taiko Gallery // KreuBerlin, Germany
  • 2016 Pictoplasma Exhibition – Up Gallery // Berlin, Germany
    Artist Talk – Pictoplasma Conference – Babylon // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘Edging’ – Ludwig // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition – Port of Art 3 – Fata Morgana // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 Group Exhibition ‘Bardo’ – Aquabit Gallery // Berlin, Germany
    Shop Around Group Exhibition ‘Vinylize’ – Concerto // Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Solo Exhibition ‘GLOOM’ – BOHEI // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘La Grande Plakastrophe’ – Giraffentoast // Hamburg, Germany
    Group Exhibition – Slowroom Contemporary ‘Slow’ // Copenhagen, Denmark
    Solo Exhibition ‘Lights off, socks on!’ – PremArts // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘Fruit’ – PremArts // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘State of Mind’ – Stillpoint // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 Group Exhibition ‘Made in Berlin’ – Siam Discovery // Bangkok, Thailand
    Group Exhibition – Galerie im Künstlerhaus // Leonberg, Germany
  • 2019 Duo Exhibition ‘All Or Nothing’ – YELO House // Bangkok, Thailand
    Group Exhibition ‘VOR UND ZURÜCK’ – BOHEI // Berlin, Germany
  • 2022 Group Exhibition ‘COPYSHOP’ – KHB Studios // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘3 Tage für die Katz’ – KHB Studios // Berlin, Germany
  • 2023 Group Exhibition ‘GlueHeads – A Berlin Odyssey into the Unreal’ – Verbeke Foundation // Kemzeke, Belgium
    Group Exhibition ‘Rejects from Verbeke Foundation’ – HOK Gallery // The Hague, Netherlands
    Group Exhibition ‘100 + 1 Jahr DIN A4’ – SCHAU FENSTER // Berlin, Germany
    Group Exhibition ‘GlueHeads – A Berlin Odyssey into the Unreal’ – Neurotitan // Berlin, Germany
  • 2023 Group Exhibition ‘Horses’ – The Ballery // Berlin, Germany
  • Pictoplasma Exhibition – Verwalterhaus // Berlin, Germany

Selected Clients

T-Mobile, Submarine Amsterdam, PLUS Supermarkt, Dead Kittens, Tivoli Vredenburg, MaiNetCare, DFFRNT Media, Annie Made it, City of Rotterdam, Hotel Berlin, Berlin, Pictoplasma, Future Classic