Roos van Dijk (NL)

Roos van Dijk (born 1989) studied Fine Arts at Artez Institute of the Arts in Arnhem and joined one semester at the painting department of Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design. Quickly after her graduation in summer 2012, she received a starters grant from the Mondriaan Fund. This year she is nominated for The Dutch Royal Award of Modern Painting 2013, which will be handed out coming October.

“A fascination with modern architecture and the rush of modern life are themes that are strongly present in the work of Van Dijk. The aesthetics of the human-made environment is cast in paint, and forms and places from our daily life are moulded in a new way of seeing. Through the action of capturing large architectural structures and their beauty first in photographs, Van Dijk frames her source in a way that is surprising. As a following step, the artist translates the photographs into paintings where the departing point is left aside and the layered, refined painting takes over. What moves this process is the artist’s will to give shape to her personal encounters with such overwhelming spaces and hidden places, in a way that becomes an accessible and open experience for the viewers as well.” Suzie Hermán, curator

NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN by Roos van Dijk explores Košice’s suburbs consisting of prefabricated panel blocks through the classical medium of painting. With her series of panelak paintings, Roos is aiming to change the viewer’s perspective on what was once built as an anonymous greyish concrete mass to accommodate Košice’s booming population that has now turned into a rainbow-like assembly of buildings, monotonous in shape but divers in colour. Roos van Dijk presented the outcome of the three month long residency on the 21st of November in Kasarne/Kulturpark.

The residency of Roos was part of our long term partnership with Motel Spatie. Roos stayed in Košice for three months (Sept – Nov 2013). Roos van Dijk was supported by Mondriaan Fund.

You can watch a short video about Roos’ residence here/Krátke video o Roosinej rezidencii si môžete pozrieť tu:

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