It’s been quite the year for Christian Rex van Minnen, shows across Europe, Juxtapoz cover and felt like a return to the forefront of contemporary painting. Minnen ends 2024 and enters 2025 with Born Free in the Golden Age in Madrid with his gallery, VETA by Fer Frances. The otherworldly talent is there, the experimentation with a reverence to the past masters of century before, and it always seems van Minnen is at home in Madrid.Â
There was something that van Minnen said to us earlier this year that feels like a nice way for him to close this year out. He said, “Because it’s that pain, it’s that grief that brings you to love. It’s the greatest paradox. It takes that discomfort and looming sense of heartache to actually go towards it and not away from it. This is what I’ve learned in my direct experience. It’s a very counterintuitive movement, heading towards elements that appear dark.”Â
