New meets old in absurdist, emotionally-charged portraits.
For Christian Rex van Minnen, painting is an introspective process. His surreal canvases channel the raw chaos of thoughts and emotions into elegantly rendered images. Using oil painting techniques inspired by Renaissance and Dutch masters, van Minnen depicts his subjects with a decadent level of detail. His subjects themselves are, however, far from sublime: deformed faces, garish still lifes and disturbingly contorted bodies. Meanwhile, brightly coloured additions such as rainbows, hearts and gummy sweets reflect the influences of contemporary Surrealist-Pop Art. By playfully clashing with t...
Bio
Christian Rex van Minnen (he/him) was born in 1980 in Rhode Island and lived in numerous US cities such as Denver, Los Angeles and Colorado, before settling in Brooklyn, New York.
Exhibitions
In August 2021, he became the first artist to hold simultaneous exhibitions across NANZUKA’s three Tokyo locations - also representing his Japanese solo show debut!
Did you know?
van Minnen collaborated with directors Justin Carlson and Alex Nicholson to create a short experimental documentary providing a glimpse into his studio practice.