Behind Her Eyes

About

Roo Abrook is a figurative artist based in Portsmouth. She is heavily inspired by Pre-Raphaelite portraits, the Dadaism and Surrealist art movements, whilst also combining old literature and femineity into her artworks. Throughout her career Roo has produced artwork for record releases, gallery shows and original commissions for well-known musicians’ homes, such as, Gem Archer (formerly in the music band Oasis, presently in Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds) to produce canvases for Liam Gallagher, Nicole Appleton (All Saints) and Andy Bell (formerly in Oasis, presently in Ride). Roo’s paintings have been steadily selling to collectors with works being regularly sold at Art Fairs in London’s Hampstead and Battersea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Most notably, Roo has produce numerous wall art memorial commissions, such as at the Charter Academy School, on Albert Road Mews, and in the popular restaurant, ‘Bangerz n Brewz,’ in Dukes Street, Brighton, to name a few.

In her most recent works, Roo beautifully depicts mainly women and children by using disregarded vintage Victorian photographs. As well as this, Roo collects Edwardian postcards that feature female actresses and performers, this is significant to her artwork as she aims to bring disregarded female figures of the past back into the modern day and rebuild them into something more highly valued. Within her work, she investigates and poses self-reflecting questions about the subject matter of beauty, youth, and time. 

Roo’s work also highlights themes of romanticism and femininity. Her artworks all include female faces which captivate the viewers into seeing the soul through the eyes of women. By including these female figures in her work, Roo aims to challenge the ideology of beauty, what is deemed beautiful by one person, may not be seen as beautiful by another. Femininity from the past has been consciously re-contextualised to provoke thoughts about today's media culture that is obsessed with superficial youth.  And with the increasing pressures to look beautiful in society, and for women to meet society’s current beauty demands, it is hard to keep one’s individuality intact. And that is what Roo is trying to remind us, that individuality is beautiful.

To enquire about Roo's artwork email Lily at info@turnerartperspective.com

To find out more about Roo's exhibition visit her viewing room: Coming Soon... | 25 September - 23 October 2021 | Turner Art Perspective

To find out more about Roo's artworks visit her private viewing: https://privateviews.artlogic.net/2/dcde22be229211ff65bb96