IBRAHIM HUSSEIN

Two Figures, 1972

JORAM ROUKES

Now and Again It Flowers,

1973
JASON LEVESQUE
MEREDITH DITTMAR
“As an artist I think you mirror the world around you and reflect this upon the world within
you. I think this can be done equally well by means of observing the world around you
soberly, and through exploring the world within you, with or without drugs. It’s neither
necessary nor obsolete.”

JORAM ROUKES

Joram Roukes is a Netherlands based artist, living and working in the city of Groningen.
His predominantly large scaled oil paintings are reflections of everyday life situations, observed,
filtered and reassembled in a collage like way. The resulted paintings pose a fragmented yet cohesive
view on today’s society and human behavior. It is impossible to hastily pass by one of Joram Roukes’
striking 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 canvases have an incredible liveliness
that draws us into each surreal world that he constructs. In moments of great vigour and spontaneity,
Joram’s brushwork recalls the intensity of the abstract expressionists’ emotive mark-making.

In other areas, extreme control and meticulous attention is paid to familiar figurative representations
tweaked with a surreal quirkiness. Joram’s capacity to seamlessly mix traditional techniques, urban
influences, pop culture imagery and fantasy, displays a freedom that explores the full spectrum of
what the medium of oil paint can accomplish. Blending graffiti roots with classically trained dexterity;
Joram achieves a unique and inspired visual style with which he can communicate his many
observations of the Western World. Expertly combining high and low art, Joram’s portraits comment
on contemporary culture, confronting viewers with our own untamed absurdity in an engaging
narrative characterized by beauty, chaos and decay.