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Roos Campman captures "the moment of the first impression" in her portraits. 
What we see is a woman's face. 
Her painting "Les Serveuses" (The waitresses, 2010) attracts us: 
three faces are related to each other beautifully through subtle colouring 
and a play of three different rhythms composed with shades of light on their faces.
Something important appeals us, but what is this?
 
It is precisely the woman - and this applies to every culture, who sees herself - 
and is seen by others - through codes, which she takes upon herself 
and from which she distinguishes herself at the same time. 
We recognise in the "Serveuses" the way they see themselves as modern Asian women 
and the way they 'encode' themselves accordingly. 
We also experience something personal in the portraits. By subtle breakthroughs 
Campman catches how someone can be presenting herself in a codified manner, 
while at the same time distinguishing herself from what this code is telling us. 
The portrait offers an echo of our own intimate self-experience. 
The recognition of the stratification of our own person-hood is our basis to acknowledge this other person.
 
With the double-portrait "Portrait d'un Rendez-Vous" (2010) Roos Campman 
shows the encoded appearance of a Geisha through a white mask of make-up. 
But in this painting - as in reality for those who have an eye to see it - 
the individuality of the woman is present also. 
The austere and non-narrative character of the painting underlines this. 
The free portraits by Roos Campman are no references to this or that person. 
With less detail she generalises in her paintings the manifestation of woman-hood. 
It is precisely through this generalisation that we experience more recognition.
Roos Campman begins her paintings with a free drawing from which she creates a composition, 
distributes tonalities, etc. which are entirely subservient to her subject and the intended tension there in. 
She also knows, with great mastery in painting, how to use the transparency of egg-tempera 
in order to give the portrait a subtle depth on a sensitive level.
 
"L'été Nippon" (2010) strikes us immediately by the colour that unites lipstick, eye-shadow and the flowers 
as nuances of each other. The whole face is even - if we look purely at colours and surfaces - 
an "undertone" of the colour of the flowers. The face is the 'emptiest' part of the painting, 
but nevertheless it is the centre thanks to the rhythm of shade and glow and the incidence of light. 
The school-uniform has obtained a multitude of meanings over time by a.o. the Manga, 
and the garland of flowers is a part of the traditional geisha-uniform. 
But this portrait shows in all its attractiveness mainly a young girl with many possibilities.
Roos Campman's paintings are so balanced in form and content, 
because their attractiveness and psychological appeal complement and highlight each other. 
It is through this interplay that our "first impression" is reinforced and reflected back to us.
 
 
 
Ferdinand VAN DIETEN, December 2010
Gallery owner in Amsterdam, since 1995 he has been following the progress of Roos Campman as a painter, 
and he represents her work in his gallery.