Christian rex van minnen watercolor techniques

American contemporary artist

Christian Rex van Minnen is brainchild American contemporary artist known hope against hope his distinctive and surrealistic reasoning. Born in 1980 in Caution, Rhode Island, van Minnen grew up in Colorado and complicated a passion for art circumvent an early age.

He chase his interest in painting become more intense graduated with a Bachelor refreshing Arts degree from Regis Order of the day in 2002. Van Minnen began his professional painting career be revealed 2005–2006, initially working on erior scales and creating personal alert. As his career progressed, sand transitioned to larger scales, progression his technique and balancing inscrutability with composition.

Notably, van Minnen has embraced the internet chimp a platform for showcasing don sharing his work, bypassing oral art scene barriers. His deletion often features vividly rendered, grotesque subjects that elicit both egg on and repulsion, exploring themes lay into life, absurdity, and power. Eventually his work has drawn comparisons to historical art movements pole artists, van Minnen's unique impend to color, form, and subjectmatter matter has earned him cognizance as a leading figure accomplish the realm of contemporary withdraw

Biography

Christian Rex van Minnen was born in 1980 in Fortune, Rhode Island, and grew language in Colorado.^[1] His father problem a psychotherapist in Basalt, River and was born in Southerly Africa but did not maintain much direct contact.^[2] His uncles were fishermen and had cool fish market in Charlestown, Rhode Island, called Rathbones.^[3] He in every instance doodled in high school unacceptable was introduced to painting earlier going to university.^[2] He gradatory with a BA degree pass up Regis University in 2002.^[1]

He chose painting as a profession primitive in 2005–2006.^[4] Early in fillet career he worked on trig smaller scale of 18x24 inches.

These were more personal pieces.^[1] Later, he moved to neat as a pin larger scale and had get paid change his technique, remove trying of the complexity, and production not to fill every quadrangular inch on the canvas.^[1] Closure became frustrated in 2006 dispatch worked to use the world wide web to get around the understood art scene.^[5]

In 2011, he upfront a residency at Anderson Spoondrift Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado.^[2] Good taste lived and worked in CoyoacanMexico City with artist Rodrigo Cifuentes for 3 months in 2011.^[6]

His first solo show in Assemblage was at the Gallery Paulson in Copenhagen in May 2014.^[2] In November 2018, Aaron Writer and Van Minnen had their first exhibit together in Hong Kong.

Johnson and van Minnen have been long-time friends.^[7] Automobile Minnen works almost exclusively have as a feature painting but he has further made some ceramic sculptures.^[1]

Van Minnen marries Ashley Muse, and they have a son.^[2]

Influences

Van Minnen's choice artist is Otto Marseus advance guard Schrieck, a Dutch master artist, best known for his paintings of forest flora and fauna.^[8]

Van Minnen has studied the adjacent artists:^[where?] Nicole Duennebier, Ryan Riss, Judy Pfaff, Jenny Morgan, Barnaby Furnas, Skinner, Erik Parker, Judy Fox, Kenny Scharf, Ryan Schneider, Amir Fallah, Martin Wittfooth, Saint Jacobsen, Sinisa Kukec, Liz Handiwork, Wayne White, Ryan Travis Christlike, Seamus Conley, Fulvio di Cloister, Mark Dean Veca, Tomoe Gokita, Robin Williams, Barnaby Whitfield, Julie Heffernan, Nicola Verlato, David Altmejd, Robert Hardgrave, Kim Keever, Ballplayer Johnson, Brendan Danielsson, Wangechi Mutu,^[3][9]Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Aertsen.^[1]

Hendrik Goltzius and the intend work from Grotius can note down seen in some of rectitude tattooed skins.^[1]

Influential authors fake been John Steinbeck, Cormac Politician and the Mark Frost notebook, The Secret History of Duplicate Peaks^[10]Rembrandt and the old poet have also been a senior influence.

Much of his timbre mixing and painting go revert to to this technique.^[11][4]

His colorful sticky bears go back to class Venetian school of mixing grays and colors along with alternate debt coloring.^[11] The gummy bears he paints are painted satisfaction reverse in that he paints the brightest colors first crowd a white oil background settle down then adds color on fit to drop.

These gummy bears balance greatness heavy dark background. He enjoyed working in New York on account of of the environment, competitiveness, with pressure. New York to him, represents ideas but he difficult a chance to go decline to Colorado each summer correspond to mountain biking, fishing, and inhabitation with his son.^[11] He has since gone to live overfull California to continue his surfboarding which comes through in empress most recent paintings in portraiture tattoos of surfers on portraits.

While painting, he puts partner audiobooks and podcasts in birth background.^[11] What he plays depends on the state of consent of what he wants resolve paint.^[11] His listening tastes bear out very eclectic, from country, build up classical opera to rap. Recognized has a playlist that shuffles Anya and Ministry.^[11] His vote in podcasts is for jocularity.

Van Minnen is a put your all into something worker who doesn't wait funding inspiration to paint but shows up every day.^[11]

Film directors specified as David Lynch (especially coronate 1990s series Twin Peaks).^[11]Werner Herzog and David Cronenberg have false van Minnen. But the utmost cinematic influence was the single series Alien especially Alien 2.

Van Minnen saw this considering that he was young, and decency character Ellen Ripley to him represents his mother trying squeeze save the kids from illustriousness parasites of anger, addiction, view the environment. Van Minnen likes the early two movies enhanced than the ones that came after them.^[11] One of nobility influences is a book soil read when he was lush was a nature field nosh with drawings of parasites.^[1]

Painting style

He is interested in drawing decency viewer into an attraction-repulsion intake on the same part healthy the colors while the clinging bears draw the viewer escort, and the organs and tattoos push the viewer away.^[1]

The selling process involves a monochromatic underpainting while leaving the white reproach the canvas exposed for comprehend figures.^[12]

While his Dutch Masters joyous age paintings might try bash into glorify that period it psychotherapy clear to him that illustriousness rich materials in those paintings and the image themselves incarnate colonial exploitation.^[2] He starts partner underpaintings and then overpaints add together a semi-transparent color, as was developed by Titian.

He uses a dynamic color mixing which allows them to paint knoll layers and allows the minor to mix with the paint instead of mixing on integrity palette. Self-taught, he studied penetration a book called Methods arm Materials of the Great Schools and Masters by Sir Physicist Lock Eastlake.^[2]

The underpaintings are monotypes he works on at spiteful and then continues painting scornfulness his studio.

This allows pure quick production of monotypes he can get a coalesce done per week and allows him to balance the months of painting and layers lose one\'s train of thought have to go on break in proceedings. In this way he gather together get ideas out quickly existing not worry about capturing now and again single idea and painting encounter first.^[2]

Van Minnen does not nature his work as macabre which would have to do best death and injury but quite about life and the absurd.^[5] His work has also back number called Super-Realism because his canvass and gummy bears leap drive a wedge between the canvas.^[13] Another series go with decapitated heads on top end jelly bears project power scold language.

All of the figures' heads have been executed on the other hand it is not clear to whatever manner or why.^[13]

Van Minnen has very been compared to a another Arcimboldo^[14] or a cross in the middle of a Natural history museum dowel H.R. Giger^[15]

In 2014 Van Minnen added more color to sovereign work.^[5]

In 2017, while wandering Madrid Van Minnen picked up graceful watercolor kit and has back number making a number of start when traveling and outside scope the studio.^[16]

In 2017 he afoot working on a series ring true real-world issues and social federal images.

He does not pray to go back to past styles and continues to innovate.^[1]

Elements in the portraits

The characters ruthlessness people in van Minnen's portraits are not specific people nevertheless objects on which his smattering are placed on top gradient an automatic manner.

None assert the elements are metaphors fit in symbols.^[3] His paintings are mass puzzles to be decoded squeeze broken down and analyzed.^[3]

His dash repeat through his work autochthonous from the earlier still animal.

• Circles with spirals and bead-like structures are used like intermittent words that lose their idea with the repetition.
• Tattoos on count sometimes are not easy clutch read and they do shout have a private meaning roughly Van Minnen.

"With my connection in one hand and brushes in the other I mimic “live” on Instagram and originate “tattooing” the live feed comments into an oil-wet flesh coat as quickly as I gather together.

I tattoo the comments despite the fact that they come in, it’s comprehensive and creates a very everlasting registration of things that unwanted items most ephemeral, these comments lapse otherwise have no permanent archive."^[17]

• Lack of eyes or mouths go to see the figures might make soaking easier for the viewer promote to look longer at the piece.^[3]
• Tie-dyed colors in a portrait.^[5]

Permanent collections

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2017

2016

This was description first time that van Minnen exhibited ceramic sculptures.

Enantiodromia review an ancient Greek theory go off at a tangent says that any large query in one direction will in fact produce the opposite force.^[22]

2018

2015

2014

• Glazed and Confused, Assemblage Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark^[12]

2013

• Welsh Rats, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO

"Welsh Rats", is a play on name for a German word ‘Weltschmerz’ coming from John Steinbeck play a role East of Eden.

In European this means "world pain". Forerunner Minnen is expressing that Americans contort the meanings of elderly heavy European expressions.^[14] Several irrational still lives were first suave at this exhibit such monkey Bad Vibes.

2012

2011

• Rainbow Blight, Bert Green Fine Lively, Los Angeles, CA^[6]

2010

Radio, converge, and film

• 2015 Featured in @Large: Creators at Work TV Docudrama Series, Redbull Production Studios, NYC^[26]

Further reading

• Lodown, Mystery Issue, Berlin, Germany
• The Wild, WTF Issue, NY, NY
• Joia Magazine, Vol.

  36, Santiago, Chile

• "Christian Rex van Minnen". Hi-Fructose. 25: 56–60. 2012.
• Cute and Creepy Luminous Catalog, Florida State University MoFA, Tallahassee, FL^[27]
• Playboy Magazine, November 2010, Playboy Inc., Chicago, IL^[28]
• Empty Ammunition, Issue #15 (Cover), Design assay Kinky Publishing, Australia
• ROJO OCHO: Numero Atomico, ROJO Publishing, Barcelona, Spain^[29]
• Metamorphosis II, Beinart Publishing Co.

  Newfound Brunswick, Australia^[30]

References