NANZUKA is pleased to present “Metanoia,” a solo exhibition of new works by Christian Rex van Minnen at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND. This exhibition marks the artist’s second solo show at NANZUKA following his first exhibition in Japan which was held simultaneously across three venues (NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, 3110NZ by LDH Kitchen, NANZUKA 2G) in 2021.
Van Minnen is widely known for his distinctive style, which fuses the classical oil painting techniques of 17th-century Baroque masters such as Rembrandt, Jusepe de Ribera and Rachel Ruysch with 20th-century Surrealism and contemporary American underground culture, often infused with a sharp sense of black humor. In Metanoia, the artist presents a total of 15 new paintings, including works that further develop his signature grotesque yet seductive visual language, alongside a new body of paintings the artist describes as “Straightforward,” in which he explores a more classical still-life approach.
Metanoia means change of mind or heart, or repentance. I began my art career as a vandal, as a destroyer, making ugly the beautiful things of the past. I have been a vandal in the temple. Growing up in the 80s and 90s my culture was and is one of depravity, debasement and destruction and I have for many years seen myself in that same light. This is a cultural thing and true of many of my peers. Whether this is learned, or actual, this has been the defining quality of the culture I am in, and my work has reflected this attitude. I have recently had a change of heart and I am being regenerated. Where once I only saw the formal qualities of the pictures of the past, now I am beginning to see the subject, the content, the great mysterious ecstasy of these works. This has come with a call to metanoia, to repent, to rethink. I have started to paint still life paintings in a straightforward and sincere way by collecting objects from my local market or environment, photographing them and painting them. I only seek to glorify nature and creation and not destroy the genre but to contribute to it, while simultaneously moving forward my surreal style works that emulate and vandalize this traditional style, and attempt to express the intense emotions I feel in this process of spiritual regeneration. I am allowing these two to coexist for now. –Christian Rex van Minnen
In addition to a series of still-life paintings that strongly evoke the lineage of vanitas painting—an artistic tradition that flourished in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy during the 17th-century Baroque period—the exhibition comprises majestically and fantastically ornamented floral arrangements, as well as portraits featuring figures with grape-like faces. Together, these works constitute an artistic inquiry that seeks to illuminate an aesthetic that Christian Rex van Minnen has developed over many years through persistent experimentation—one that transcends the boundaries between grotesqueness and beauty, and between corporeality and the sublime. Interwoven with the Eidolons of contemporary American culture symbolized by gummy forms, these works may ultimately allude to the chaotic predicament we find ourselves in today, a call to metanoia, to rethink everything, whether to retreat back to the comfort and security of tradition, or to press on with blind faith in the wild promise of novelty.
