A.M. Print

Karien Deroo lives and works in Sint-Laureins, a small village between Bruges and Ghent, Belgium. Karien Deroo paints in an autodidactic way, inspired by the classical tradition of the old masters. Her style is highly figurative but with a strong contemporary and timeless perspective. In her paintings Karien Deroo explores the hidden history of the individual. Although a variety of hidden emotions and deeply buried secrets reveal some typical inner struggle, we can't detect any explicit external emotion in her characters. The figures seem in a contemplative mood, captured on the canvas. They are snatched out of a context that we can only guess, caught in their own turmoil. It's a snapshot where the gaze of the character lingers with the viewer and leaves him or her contemplative as well. The characters painted by Karien Deroo have different layers, not only in the literal sence of paint but also in the invisible compexity of their feelings.