A SOLO SHOW BY ROO ABROOK | SHENFIELD
“I use Antique book pages within my work, unwanted with little value that I feel have a beauty and combine these with contemporary materials such as screen prints, digital prints, photocopies (that’s retro now) and neon spray paints to play with timelines. I am continually developing these timelines by investigating beauty, time, youth and ageing.” - Roo Abrook.
ABOUT THE ARTIST & OVERVIEW | ROO ABROOK
Roo Abrook is a contemporary figurative artist whose work draws deeply from Pre-Raphaelite portraiture as well as the Dada and Surrealist movements. She is known for her striking depictions of women and children, created using overlooked vintage Victorian photographs. Roo also collects Edwardian postcards featuring actresses and performers—materials that are central to her practice. Her work frequently explores reflective questions surrounding beauty, youth, and the passage of time.
Roo’s artistic inspiration can be traced back to her teenage years, when she immersed herself in magazines and various punk and new-wave publications. These early influences shaped both her style and her approach to mixed-media construction. By repurposing old magazines as a foundational layer, she has developed a distinctive process: building up compositions with music paper, graphite drawings and screen-printing onto tissue paper, and finishing with neon spray paint, varnish, acrylic hand-painting, and subtle touches of gold leaf.
The individuality of Roo’s methods, combined with her imaginative layering of diverse materials, gives her work its unique character and strong collectability. Roo has produced artwork for record releases, major gallery exhibitions, and high-profile private commissions. She has created original pieces for well-known musicians - including Gem Archer (formerly Oasis, now Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds), Liam Gallagher, Nicole Appleton (All Saints), and Andy Bell (formerly Oasis, now Ride). Her paintings continue to sell steadily, with regular placements at art fairs in London’s Hampstead and Battersea, as well as in Hong Kong and Singapore.