AMSTERDAM.- The Circle Gallery is presenting the latest works of photographer, producer and painter, Dik Nicolai.

With a background in interior design, web design and photography, Nicolai’s practise has from the start been informed by his fascination with the workings of light and composition and their effect upon, and interpretation by, the viewer.

A recent decision to live and work in an old monastery on the waterside close to Leiden had a profound effect upon his thinking, which in turn also transformed his work. The meditative atmosphere of these new surroundings have instilled his photography with a far more classical and personal quality.

These latest works have become what Nicolai interprets as ‘still-life-moments’, filled with historic objects and symbolic elements. While the objects within his works might at first appear arbitrary, they are in fact vessels carrying subtle references to, and echoes within, Nicolai’s personal life and interests: be they metaphysical, literary, astronomical or mythological. The atmospheric light, classical compositions and colorful hues from the Dutch Old Masters have become quintessential for Nicolai’s still-life compositions. The scenarios he creates enhance the feeling of being alone within a decor bathed in Dutch seventeenth century light.

Dik Nicolai studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kampen, and then become an interior designer. In 2000 he moved to The Hague where he worked as a photographer and web designer, again with a fascination for the interaction and interpretation of the designs and images by its users. Following a period in Spain, Nicolai returned to The Netherlands and began working within advertising, shooting photographs for advertisement campaigns and portraits of Dutch musicians and actors, finding his inspiration in the works (especially in their approach to light) of photographers Annie Leibovitz, Anton Corbijn and Richard Avedon.