Joram Roukes
Joram Roukes is a Dutch artist living and working in Groningen. On a totally unrelated note, my dad’s now-deceased 3rd wife was from Groningen and my half-sister grew up there after her mother left my dad… but that’s another story. Also, my now-deceased grandfather was stationed in Groningen in World War II. It’s a very nice city in any case. Joram Roukes makes paintings that could not be called very nice by any but the most inattentive viewer – they are more challenging than that, but in a good way. These are oil paintings, but he handles the medium in such a way as to suggest a variety of media – collage, graffiti, marker – it’s an unsettling effect but I find it accurately evokes the pastiche of everday life as a kind of onslaught of impressions. Plus I just like the imagery on a personal level. Maybe it’s the Groningen thing.
-
- The Mexican Shirt
-
- Black Sheep
-
- Five Scoops
-
- Hobo Jungle
-
- Red Eye
-
- The Linebacker
My oil paintings are reflections on daily life situations in western society, filtered and reassembled in a collage-like manner. These works have been shown throughout Europe with shows in Copenhagen and London.
– Joram Roukes
More of Roukes’ work can be seen on his website, or on his gallery pages: www.galleryb15.dk & www.signalgallery.com.
I spent a day in Groningen over Christmas and agree it’s really nice. I even almost managed to pronounce the name properly, eventually.