At the age of 14, Wouter Valentijn was hit by a car driven by a drunk driver. The multiple fractures and head trauma resulting from this accident impaired his motor and cognitive functions. In 2002, he joined the Herenplaats creative workshop, an artists’ collective located in Rotterdam, where, after a difficult period of adjustment, he managed to find his place. Valentijn paints but is particularly fond of collage, through which he expresses an uninhibited erotic impulse. While his protean, monstrous images, composed of body fragments taken from magazine photographs such as Playboy, undoubtedly reflect his own story, his work transcends mere testimony of pain to create an oeuvre that could be described as baroque, even surrealist. His disability forces him to use only his left hand—he was right-handed—so he receives assistance for cutting while acting like a conductor, precisely indicating how things should be done. He most often signs “Don Valentino,” perhaps a play on words, a touch of humor referring to the famous Hollywood sex symbol Rudolph Valentino.