Have you ever looked at a gummy bear and thought, “There’s something strangely unsettling about that sugary smile?”. Well, artist Christian Rex van Minnen takes that unsettling feeling and turns it into a whole new art form. Van Minnen’s photorealistic paintings feature gummy bears as the stars of the show, but these aren’t your average candy portraits. These gummy bears are depicted in bizarre and surreal scenarios, often with a dark and unsettling twist.
Van Minnen’s use of vibrant colors and classical references adds an extra layer of complexity to his work. The candy itself is rendered in mouthwatering detail, tempting the viewer to reach in and grab a piece. But the settings and situations in which the gummies find themselves are anything but sweet. Think gummy bears melting in a vat of acid, or suspended in a spiderweb – these are not the gummies of your childhood. By creating this push-and-pull effect, van Minnen forces the viewer to confront the unexpected and the unsettling.
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