Valerie Gyzel was born in The Hague, and now lives and works in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She grew up between Dutch and Curaçaoan family. Partly because of the different cultures in which she was raised, she has always been searching for her identity. Now, 30 years young, her art is a reflection of that identity.

The contrast between the colorful, large-scale and often brightly colored canvases and the clean black and white artworks reveals the diversity within her. It is almost a contradiction. Bustle, chaos, and depth versus calm, order, and clarity.

With her natural love for beauty, she not only creates paintings but also adores art in the form of film, photography, literature, and music. A large part of her Caribbean family is rooted in the art of making music, it therefore flows through her veins. Music plays a major role in and during the creation of her artworks, with genres such as jazz (think Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington) and hip-hop (Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, The Fugees) taking center stage.