Edu

Edu is the stage name of Ed Vervoorn (1958), who discovered painting around 2000 as the language in which he could best express himself. As a boy, he often daydreamed, except during drawing lessons, when he could let his imagination run wild. 
 
He studied at the Academy for Expression for Word and Gesture (currently the University of the Arts) in Utrecht. He acted, directed and taught drama in Nijmegen and Amsterdam. He discovered that he preferred to work behind the scenes and took courses in scriptwriting and theatre texts. He wrote short, slightly absurdist stories. He attended the Writers' School in Amsterdam, where he 'searched for his voice'. How does he want to tell his story? 

Edu picked up the paintbrush again, took lessons at the Haagse Vrije Academie in The Hague and at Studio Fulton, and refined his style. Initially, he was mainly fascinated and influenced by the Cobra group and painters such as Picasso, Matisse, and Wilfredo Lam. Later, it was the expressionists Kirchner, Van Dongen, Von Werefkin and Sluijters who inspired Edu. He took more lessons at the Vrije Academie in Amsterdam and at the IAC in The Hague.

The current Edu paints with acrylic and water-based oil paint on canvas and works from chaos (because how to approach the white canvas!) until figures and structures emerge that matter, that can be refined but still leave questions open. Characteristics that have always remained are the bright colours and the still movement.

The language of Edu, in short