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Christian Rex van Minnen

Strawberry Tears

€2,500

Edition of 25

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Absurdism, horror, and cultivated arbitrariness meet canonical oil painting in a distorted portrait by Christian Rex van Minnen.

Grotesque and yet – somehow – delicious, plump gummy sweets float above a pulled and pinched face, veiled by a tattoo-esque layer of lurid cartoons. With a focus on tonal depth and richness of colour, the edition is printed in 34 distinct layers and finished with gold shimmer. Embossing and gloss varnish cause the gummies to jump forth from their surroundings, to surreal effect.

Specks, bubbling and pitting are a conscious choice by the artist, conceived to echo the aged surfaces of the centuries-old Dutch Masters paintings that inspire his work. The irregularities, unique to each print, are achieved by curing layers of ink for less time than usual – an experimental technique developed in collaboration with printmakers at Make-Ready in London.

The resulting artwork deftly entwines the precise technicalities of silkscreen printing with its lyrical unpredictability.

Behind the scenes

Christian Rex van Minnen wearing glasses and a bright orange sweatshirt

Christian Rex van Minnen4 collaborationsFor 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 their surroundings, these details add a sense of absurdist humour to his artworks. The results are laced with irony – at once hyper-realistic and nonsensical, beautiful and ugly, historic and contemporary.

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Reviews from Avant collectors

i loved the details of the note and gloves. well done!
Review of Ringers #962: The LACMA Iterations
absolutely stunning print. framing was fantastic as well. very happy, thank you
Review of Portrait of Francis Bacon
Amazing platform and communication! Amazing art and print quality! Great service and support! Thanks!
Review of Guardian
Love the quality of the build
Review of Ugly Bastard
Love my new Snowfro piece and all the little extras that came with it! The tote bag in particular is immaculate 🤌
Review of Chromie Squiggle #8107
an amazing artwork. my second Tomas Sanchez. very happy to have it framed bu you. thank you.
Review of Inner Love
The monent I opened the box I was pose struck. I’m headspinning beyond happy with this piece of artwork! This piece pops like bubble gum and a great addition to my other pieces by the artist. Great communication and packaging from AA!
Review of B BOY JUSHI
Incredibly happy and impressed with the quality of what we received. Will definitely consider buying from Avante Arte again.
Review of Descendent - Lucid Dreamer

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