Maaike Schoorel. Vera Icon

Dutch artist Maaike Schoorel (1973) belongs to a new generation of painters whose work references the mythical history of painting from the Netherlands. The subjects of her paintings seem at once recognizable and elusive and are drawn from familiar experiences and everyday encounters. She uses photographic source material as a way of beginning her paintings that are, in turn, rooted in the art-historical genres of landscape, portrait and still life.

The monograph Vera Icon is a major overview of her work since her graduation from the Royal College of Art (London) in 2002. In collaboration with graphic designer Goda Budvytytė , the book illustrates finished paintings alongside moments of inspiration that all relate back to the cities Schoorel has lived and worked in: London, New York, Rome, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Contributions by leading art critics, curators and artists dissect the personal experience of looking at her work, the artistic tradition in which it is steeped, as well as the relationship with photography, to complement a book that offers both an appraisal of Schoorel’s work as well as an artistic experience in and of itself.