About - Virginia van Gaalen

About me

Art has always been a part of Virginia’s life, as an educator for 18 years and in recent times as a full-time artist. As someone who lives internationally her artwork is influenced by the country in which she lives. She has a unique sense of line and colour and is intuitive in her art practice. Virginia enjoys interpreting her ideas in a variety of media and often plays with different processes within her themes. Her paintings capture the world around her and are varied, from cityscapes of the Philippines – that embody the densely populated city of Manila – to the delicate mixed media work of Chinese shophouses in Southeast Asia.

Virginia’s recent ceramic pieces are unique in imagery, hand painted and layered with stencils and silkscreens that reflect the urbanscape of Bucharest. Her landscapes inspired by the Romanian countryside offer a sense of peace and tranquility in contrast to the unpredictability of our times. Also, Virginia is an avid photographer, often documentary in style capturing moments within the world in which she lives.

“I am intrinsically motivated by my surroundings and attempt to create an emotional and metaphorical response to my environment. I like to feel the pulse of a place and to capture the essence of where I am in a particular moment. Colours, shapes, textures and lines play an important part of this visual imagery.

My work is very fluid and I am intuitive and gestural in my response to what I see. The experimental side of dripping paint, ink and water, whilst working back into the wet paint is an important element, ‘mark marking’ where I have been. My media choice changes to best represent my visual story and for me exemplifies the changing of life, nature and our time here”.