American contemporary artist Christian Rex van Minnen merges classical references, pop culture, and gummy candy into surreal and bizarre photo-realistic paintings with vibrant and lush colors.
Christian Rex van Minnen is interested in drawing the viewer into an attraction-repulsion feeding on the same part of the colors while the gummy bears draw the viewer in and the organs and tattoos push the viewer away. The production process involves a monochromatic underpainting while leaving the white of the canvas exposed for certain figures. While his Dutch Masters golden age paintings might try to glorify that period it is clear to him that the richness of materials in those paintings and the painting themselves represent colonial exploitation. He starts with underpaintings and then overpaints with a semi-transparent color, as was developed by Titian. He uses a dynamic color mixing which allows them to paint in layers and allows the light to mix with the color instead of mixing on the palette. Self-taught, he studied intensively a book called Methods and Materials of the Great Schools and Masters by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.
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