Daan Roukens is a Dutch visual artist, known for his diverse and colourful abstract self-portraits. He portrays what is going on in his head in an abstract way. Roukens continuously experiences a restless feeling as a result of the tension between order and chaos along with other contradictions. When he experiences too much chaos, he lets his obsessive perfectionism run free and if that structure becomes too dominant, he will add chaos again. In his never-ending search for a peace of mind, Roukens experiences the contradicting and connecting moment of the in-between as sublime.

Through his art Roukens gives new value to daily life by questioning contradictions that most people take for granted. He feels the strong need to take the viewer into this process and changes everyday recognizable things in such a way that it broadens his and their perspective. Various opposing answers can coexist and together they exceed thinking in black-and-white terms.

He successfully graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art at AKV St. Joost (Den Bosch, 2009) and obtained his Master of Fine Art degree at the Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam, 2018). His work varies from autonomous projects to commissions and is acknowledged by a broad audience in museums, galleries, shops and fairs. Daan Roukens lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

02 Nov   New Work

With the series Stumbling I research how my artistic actions influence the interpretation of the viewer. Both physically in the making, as the experience for the viewer in front of the artwork. Straight and wavy lines alternate in the process, where white contrasts with color and loose lines counteracts the straight.

09 Jul   Why? Abstract Self-Portraits

After releasing my video artwork: The Abstract Self-Portrait in 2018, I began using the term ‘abstract self-portrait’ to depict my paintings. From a simple title to a more comprehensive meaning that captures the process and meaning of my art.

26 Apr   Sale

As a way of saying thank you for all your support over the years, I would like to offer everybody 20 – 50% discount on prints and paintings in the webshop. This will help me fund my new series of abstract self-portraits during the Coronacrisis. *Sale ended on July 1.

29 Mar   Stumbling

I’m currently working on a new series of abstract self-portraits. In which I continue my research into the ‘in-between’ experience and how I can communicate this with the viewer. In addition to these paintings, I share the complete process of making via social media.

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