Galerie Philippe Valentin, Paris
15 October – 19 November 2022

« Ancestral Worlds » de Folkert de Jong,
en collaboration avec Delphine Courtillot et la Galerie Lemaire
For his second exhibition at Galerie Philippe Valentin, Folkert de Jong immerses us into a retro-futuristic universe conceived in collaboration with artist Delphine Courtillot and tribal art specialist Finette Lemaire.

Exploring the relationship between man and his origins, this installation invites us to rediscover forgotten stories and rituals, meant to guide us for the present and the future.

Through the structures originally imagined for his exhibition in the archaeological collections of the HET VALKHOF museum in Nimege in 2021, Folkert de Jong creates a singular time-space, built upon the ceramic works of Delphine Courtillot, the tribal art objects selected by the Lemaire Gallery and his own sculptures.

In this cabinet of curiosities, each piece raises questions: A possible work of art? An accumulation of natural elements? A sequence of a religious ritual? To each their own interpretation.

The works of Delphine Courtillot find their place easily here. Her practice, based on the ancestral gesture of modeling, gives form to sculptures between vegetal and fossilization, suggesting the slow evolution of ecosystems of which humanity is only a relatively recent component.

The masks, utilitarian objects, and jewelry complete this apparatus, emphasizing the link between man, his environment, and the spiritual extensions.

Ancestral Worlds or art as a manifestation of a human presence on earth.