Felix de Rooy

De Rooy received the Curaçao Cola Debrot Prize for his contribution to the arts and culture in 1979. In 1980, he left for New York with then partner and co-founder of the Cosmic Theatre, Norman de Palm. Besides dozens of stage productions, the duo made several feature films, two of which, Almacita di Desolato and Ava & Gabriel, won international awards. Ava & Gabriel also won a Gouden Kalf. 

De Rooy questions the position of the colonised and its impact on social relations. He has played an important role in shaping images of this, including as guest curator for the exhibitions ‘Wit over Zwart’ and ‘De erfenis van de slavernij’. In his visual work, De Rooy incorporates symbols, cultural traditions and stories into paintings, works on paper, wall hangings, assemblages and collages. 

Homo universalis De Rooy presented a compilation of his multifaceted practice in the monograph Ego Documenta, which he co-edited with Barbara Martijn in 2012. A retrospective of his work will be exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 2023