Dominique d'Orange, Belgian artist, was born in the coastal town of Ostend on September 7th 1948. She enrolled in the art school in Bruges and studied at the academy of Fine Arts in Ostend. Having been trained in art academies, the artist evolved from a classical to a modern, contemporary and graphic style over the years. Her oeuvre consists of acrylic, oil and wall paintings, aluminium and paper prints, installations, mixed media and multimedia work, photography, pastel drawings, gouache, abstract and graphic work. Her earliest work, made as a child, are paintings and pencil drawings, which were inspired by illustrations and pictures in books. As a teenager she was very fond of Anton Piek's drawings. In 1969 the artist started working as a fashion designer. After a few years she was asked to draw fashion illustrations for a catalogue. She also worked in a ceramic company in Bruges and as a teacher of fashion design. At the moment she's also active as a graphic designer. Her early artwork can be described as naïve and influenced by Henri Rousseau. Her first major exhibition of naïve pieces was held in Ostend from 1973 to 1974. From that moment on, she showed her artwork in many institutions. Her artwork evolved into large canvases in acrylic paint, with the female as recurring subject. In the 1980's the artist painted brilliant portraits, rendering inner movements elaborately. She used a delicate palette and a dreamy post impressionist style. The artist was assigned commissions for murals, of which the best one was executed in 1989 at Juan Les Pins. By the 90ies d'Orange started using a stronger palette and her paintings became less traditional and less structured. During the 1990'ies many exhibitions were held in Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Malaysia, the USA. Her paintings were shown at Linéart International Art Fair, Nicaf Tokyo, Christies, Sotheby's and the Miami Art Fair. She was awarded the Grand Prix International d'Arts in 1991. Made in Japan and Walk Without Dog(both 1992), which both have a surreal touch, render a message of culture, criticism and social commentaries on everyday life. Her Girl in Poppyfield(1998) depicts the fantastic, naïve perception of the world by children. After the 1990's d'Oranges work became more free, less figurative and more abstracted. Her canvases became bigger, the colour richer and more sensual. She developed a highly distinctive style. After a lifetime of studying, teaching and creating art, she came to a point of having a clear and defined view upon what defines art. Art is not about decoration or illustration. It is about creation, shape, lines, composition and colour. Art is redefining and abstracting. Her series The Man of Sorrow, Linear Red and Yellow illustrate the artist's development towards abstract expressionist art, with an emphasis on lines, compositions, relief and colour. At the moment the artist is concentrating on printmaking, photography, aluminium prints, mixed media and multimedia work, abstract work and installations. She has always been an extremely productive artist, leaving behind hundreds of paintings, prints, graphic work , ... Dominique d'Orange is an artist who was always passionate about learning new techniques and who experimented with styles as Surrealism, Post Impressionism, Photo Realism and Pop Art to evolve to the art in which each crucial element is present.

Art book “From Leonardo da Vinci to Andy Warhol”, author Ann Timmermans, 2008 edition, 200 pages

Yareah June 2009 article on the piece “Ballet”

Yareah July 2009

Yareah September 2009

Yareah October 2009

Yareah November 2009

Yareah December 2009

Yareah January 2010

Yareah February 2010: special on my art

More information on the artist can be found on:

www.dominiquedorange.com

www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Dominique+D'orange/89957.html

www.linkedin.com/in/dominiquedorange

www.myspace.com/dominiquedorange

www.artmajeur.com/?go=artworks/list_artworks&list_artist_id=120141&list_image_id

Kind regards,

Dominique