Dutch artist Joram Roukes is one of the artists invited to participate of the Out in The Open project in Gedsted, Denmark, a project curated by Kirk Gallery and for which he painted a stunning painting covering a silo.
Inspired by the surroundings of the beautiful nature of the area, Joram Roukes managed to capture the intimate relationship of the people of Gedsted and nature.
Intrigued by the way of life and the incredible helpfulness and hospitality of the inhabitants living in a small cabin in the woods right by the water, Joram Roukes ended up becoming a part of the society feeling inspired to paint a large mural on a 26 m high silo at the entrance of the town, besides working on new pieces at his cabin.
Here are a few images of the work courtesy of KIRK Gallery.
About the artist
Joram Roukes is a Netherlands based artist, living and working in the city of Groningen.
His predominantly murals and large scale oil paintings are reflections of everyday life situations, observed, filtered and reassembled in a collage like way.
The works pose a fragmented yet cohesive view on today’s society and human behaviour.
It is impossible to hastily pass by one of Joram Roukes’ striking murals or canvases, as his arrestingly bright colours, skilled representations and experimental juxtapositions arouse immediate intrigue in any viewer. But it is more than just jarring images and stirring compositions that keep us lingering in front of his pieces.
The distinct quality that transforms Joram’s work from ‘glance-worthy’ to ‘fascinating’ is perhaps best described by the indefinable tension present in every detail of his work.
Joram’s energetic murals and canvases have an incredible liveliness that draws us into each surreal world that he constructs.
“When you paint a human face first of all your are portraying someone, a person that does exist. What I try to do in the works instead is to keep them anonymous, so it’s not about a person, not about an individual, but more about the generation and the society I’m trying to put across in the painting.
When you paint animals heads there are a lot of associations and relations with the human behaviour: animals can be dirty or sly for example. There are really a lot of behavioural things that can be associated with any sort of animals and together with the other imaginary in the painting, I think it’s a stronger way of complementing the story rather than using human faces. So it’s a matter of anonymity, and also leaving lands for more associations.” – Joram Roukes
About Out in the Open
During the summer the gallery will come up with even more large murals from highly recognized international artists as part of the ”Out in The Open” mural project. The “Out in the Open” project was launched by Danish KIRK Gallery in 2014 creating a space for a series of large murals from highly recognized international street artists. The idea, is to bring art to the people outside the walls of the gallery space, hereby the name of the project.
About KIRK Gallery
KIRK Gallery features Danish and international contemporary art, showcasing the latest currents and developments within the new contemporary art scene, presenting powerful and visionary art by artists in a line-up that bridges the gap between fine art and the new contemporary movement.
Our artists are all selected based upon this vision and their unique conceptual ability and visual line of work.
The gallery also contributes to the beautifying the local area with the “Out in the Open” mural project started in 2014.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
