Roos Van Der Vliet

As long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the human face and its expressions, but maybe even more important: I’m fascinated by what’s behind this face. We're used to judge a book by it's cover, a person by its appearance. We are locked up inside ourselves. And in a world this big, you can feel anonymous and small when looking at the world through nothing more than a small pair of eyes. At least, that’s how I feel.

To get wonderings like this onto the canvas, I’m searching for women I can identify with, to decrease the feeling of anonymity and alienation. I sometimes find them on the streets, some of them are close friends already. The important thing for me is that I feel that there is a connection between us, not needing to be explained easily.

In my work, I search for a way to bring their inner world to the surface. By looking very closely at them, by studying their eyes, their expression, the small details, I wonder how much we’re alike, and yet so different. I ask myself how others look at people on the streets, if they ever have this feeling of recognizing someone, with the knowledge they’ve never seen this person before.
In a world this big, would it be strange to think that there are in fact more people like ...

2009 Bachelor of fine arts, Artez Arnhem, graduated cum laude

Please visit my website for up to date information about exhibitions www.roosvandervliet.nl