Van Oostrom Fine Art

Bio - Theo van Oostrom

I was born in New Zealand and currently live in Australia.
My passion is creating contemporary romantic realist paintings, conveying
thematic subjects enhanced by a style displaying maximum visual clarity.
I strengthen my paintings by carefully choosing my composition,
lighting and preferred usage of stylization.

In my early 20s, I spent many hours in the University of Auckland library,
where I discovered translated copies of old books on the techniques of the early painters.
Though I was not a student, I had access to the art library.
The artists who inspired me the most were Vermeer, Caravaggio, Ingres, Jacques-Louis David,
Bouguereau, Leighton, Draper, Poynter, Dali, and Annigoni, to name a few.

Art books that have significantly impacted me include
Artist's Techniques in Golden Age Spain: Six Treatises in Translation,
50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship by Dali
and The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand.

My typical painting technique is to model a monochrome underpainting,
then add the glazing by painting many thin layers of pure oil colour
to achieve a vibrant over-painting.

Stylistically, my most significant influence is Salvador Dali -
not because of his surrealism but because of, within his best paintings,
the radiant clarity his style projects.

My oil paintings and giclée prints are now owned and enjoyed by
private art collectors internationally.