About the artist
Roxy van Bemmel (1993) is a visual artist from Utrecht, the Netherlands. She graduated from the BA Fashion Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts in 2017 and started her career as a fashion illustrator. Her work has been exhibited at the Tini Mini Room in Dordrecht, de Kring in Amsterdam and Landgoed de Horst in Driebergen. In 2025 she won an episode of Sterren op het Doek painting Olga Zuiderhoek.
Artist statement
My work is about never feeling small again. It’s about being seen, as I’ve often felt unseen. I paint figures that are based on myself, colorful monuments that take up space. They are at the same time exposing and protective; open in their vulnerability, yet strengthened by the worlds I build around them.
In my process, I look at myself for hours at a time. At my body and its folds, its lines and shadows and its volume. This process is both comforting and confronting. I detach myself from the image I see and paint but find myself again when a work is finished. My self portraits are much larger than I feel though they are me. Living in the environment I shape for them filled with their favourite things, protecting them even when they are fully exposed.
My work starts from video: I film myself from points of view I rarely see and pick film stills between gestures. I create digital collages enlarging body parts, cutting and pasting figures and inserting photos and textures to create a fabricated landscape.
There is something strange about having a stranger standing before a painting of yourself. In my paintings I am true to myself, because in doing so I can be true to the viewer. Even though it is me they’re looking at, feeling seen becomes a shared experience.
CV
2026
‘I dreamt of expanding’ (solo) at Landgoed de Horst curated by Carlijn Voorneveld.
2025
WINNER ‘Sterren op het Doek’ episode 5 with Olga Zuiderhoek.
2024
‘I dreamt of expanding’ (solo) curated week at Galerie Waterbolk curated by Ghita van Bergen.
Guest artist at the Biannual Portrait Fair at Loods 6, Amsterdam.
‘Soft words I tell myself’ at Hooghiemstra, Utrecht.
Group exhibition ‘art collective for peace’ fundraiser, Amsterdam.
2023
Exhibition at Louis Hartlooper, Utrecht with a variety of life drawings.
2022
‘A study on intimacy’ at de Kring, Amsterdam.
‘A study on intimacy’ at Bunk hotels Utrecht.
Group show works on paper at TiniMini Room in Dordrecht, curated by Ralf Kokke.
‘My valentine’ exhibition at Iloveillustration gallery in Amsterdam, curated by Anneke Krull.
Exhibition at Hooghiemstra, Utrecht.
2021
Art walk exhibition Utrecht in collaboration with ZIMIHC Wittevrouwen.
Group show at Louis Hartlooper Complex Utrecht, curated by Meisje in het Wit.
2020
Group exhibition ‘INDIGO’ at Iloveillustration galllery in Amsterdam, curated by Anneke Krull.
WINNER FIDA Worldwide Fashion Illustration competition in ‘Experimental’ category.
Group exhibition fashion illustration during Amsterdam Fashion Week at Fosbury & Sons, curated by Anneke Krull.
Group exhibition Illustratie Biënnale, reinterpreted movie posters curated by Marlies Visser.
Education
2013 - 2017 BA Fashion Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Other activities
Creating live art at events for brands like Longchamp, de Bijenkorf, Samsung and Renaissance hotel
Teaching
Work-in-pogress workshops teaching in own atelier
Fashion illustration and technical drawing on digital programs at B Academy, Artemis in Amsterdam, MBO mode in Hilversum & United Pop in Amsterdam.
Illustration and painting workshops at Nowhere, Amsterdam.
Fashion illustration workshops at ArtEZ prepatory course, Arnhem.