Rob van der Schoor

The work of Rob van der Schoor (1952) is driven by the IDEA. The use of material, the techniques used and the means of expression are fueled by the IDEA. The idea comes from the unconscious, literature, art-history and travels. Main influences are; Beckmann, Picasso, Margritte and Vermeer. Often he works in series like; The Dutch Floors, “Religious” work, Trees, Cows, Text, Holes etc. Political events such as the murder of Theo van Gogh and September 11 had an impact on his works. Since studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam he has maintained a diary in drawings in which ideas are born and developed. Up to now he has filled over 200 of these diaries, which he makes out of different materials and papers. Traveling is an important part of his artistry. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art in Canada for a year, traveled to India, North-Africa, Turkey, East-Africa and stayed for a period of 10 years in the USA. During his stay in the USA he lived and worked in cities like Denver, Memphis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. After his stay in New York he opened Shores, a gallery in the center of Amsterdam and showed a number of artists he met in the USA. He also contacted galleries, collectors and museums throughout the States, which resulted in many exhibitions and curator-ships.
(holes, animals, black/white) Over the last few years different series have developed parallel to each other and compliment each other. In the “Hole” series the subject is cut out of the canvas. In another series three dimensional forms, like plastic animals or saws are glued or put in cuts in the canvas. In the “Black an White” series the colored element carries the meaning of the painting.
November 2004, the film-, and opinion maker Theo van Gogh, was killed in front of the apartment of van der Schoor. Because of Van Gogh’s use of the cactus as a symbol in his talk-shows, a series of paintings and watercolors with the cactus as the focus point evolved. Freedom of speech, violence and the fear of Islamic extremism were motives. Also a connection with the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York was made in a number of works.
“Religious” works After a three months trip through Vietnam and Thailand he became fascinated by the richness of religious expressions. This resulted in a large series of paintings, drawings and watercolors. Long before this trip he had made a painting of Shiva on the cross. The result was a humorous and light work in which suffering has a different meaning. In the new paintings he mixed the Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu images into a new eclectic image.
During his yearlong stay in New York, he moved into a studio in Williamsburg. There he discovered a small drawing in his sketchbook of a window in a tree. It became the beginning of a new series. The contrast in living in this city and working with these organic forms in painting was very satisfactory. In general he started by painting a wood-grain on the entire canvas and then he painted in a spontaneous and direct way a scene with trees. Often these scenes reflect human conditions, ecology or a more complex formal meaning.
The art historian cliché : “all art derives from art”, inspired him to make a large series of paintings. By taking the expression literally , he took a reproduction of a seventeenth century Dutch painting and glued it on a larger canvas. Then he extended the lines of perspective and created a new painting. At first his focus was on the floors, which formed an abstract pattern within these very realistic paintings. In the latter painting he surfaced the hidden meanings and strange connections.
Since art-school he made paintings which don’t fit in a series or formed small series like text, shapes, jewels etc .