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Karl de Vroomen's paintings explore the significance and meaning that can be found within the apparently innocuous or trivial. He is intrigued by the peripheral or marginal sites that exist between nature and culture, countryside and city, and his paintings document observed fact while responding to the poetry of these places.

Reverie of nature locates the artist’s practice within the tradition of romanticism. de Vroomen takes inspiration from evidence of man’s interventions and the cycle of decay and renewal within the environment.

In much of de Vroomen’s work important events seem poised to occur and an atmosphere of disquiet or suspense pervades. It is this sense of theatre and strangeness that guides his choice of imagery; creating paintings that have a specific resonance and mood that is difficult to describe; paintings that offer an equivalent for the unexpected beauty found in these disregarded landscapes.

Karl de Vroomen was born in 1982 in London and lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne. He graduated from Newcastle University in 2009 with an MA in Fine Art (with distinction), following the completion of a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Paiting at the University of Brighton in 2006.

Upon graduating de Vroomen was awarded the Hole Editions Postgraduate Print Award and in 2010 was awarded a residency at Newcastle University. Also in 2010 Karl de Vroomen was selected by Saatchi’s Associate Director, Rebecca Wilson for inclusion in the Saatchi Online exhibition, Northern Stars, at the A Foundation in Liverpool. He has been shortlisted for the Sainsbury’s Scholarship in Painting and Sculpture at the British School of Rome, and has been included in art fairs and exhibitions in London, New York, Manchester, Brighton and Newcastle upon Tyne.

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