Born in 1980 in Providence, Rhode Island, van Minnen grew up in Colorado and developed a passion for art from an early age.

Van Minnen began his professional painting career around 2005–2006, initially working on smaller scales and creating personal pieces.

As his career progressed, he transitioned to larger scales, evolving his technique and balancing complexity with composition.

Notably, van Minnen has embraced the internet as a platform for showcasing and sharing his work, bypassing traditional art scene barriers.

His artwork often features vividly rendered, fantastical subjects that elicit both attraction and repulsion, exploring themes of life, absurdity, and power.

While his work has drawn comparisons to historical art movements and artists, van Minnen's unique approach to color, form, and subject matter has earned him recognition as a leading figure in the realm of contemporary art Christian Rex van Minnen was born in 1980 in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up in Colorado.

[1] Later, he moved to a larger scale and had to change his technique, remove some of the complexity, and try not to fill every square inch on the canvas.

Nicole Duennebier, Ryan Riss, Judy Pfaff, Jenny Morgan, Barnaby Furnas, Skinner, Erik Parker, Judy Fox, Kenny Scharf, Ryan Schneider, Amir Fallah, Martin Wittfooth, Gregory Jacobsen, Sinisa Kukec, Liz Craft, Wayne White, Ryan Travis Christian, Seamus Conley, Fulvio di Piazza, Mark Dean Veca, Tomoe Gokita, Robin Williams, Barnaby Whitfield, Julie Heffernan, Nicola Verlato, David Altmejd, Robert Hardgrave, Kim Keever, Aaron Johnson, Brendan Danielsson, Wangechi Mutu,[3][9] Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Aertsen.

Influential authors have been John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy and the Mark Frost book, The Secret History of Twin Peaks[10] Rembrandt and the old masters have also been a major influence.

New York to him, represents ideas but he had a chance to go back to Colorado each summer for mountain biking, fishing, and camping with his son.

Van Minnen is a hard worker who doesn't wait for inspiration to paint but shows up every day.

Van Minnen saw this when he was young, and the character Ellen Ripley to him represents his mother trying to save the kids from the parasites of anger, addiction, and the environment.

[1] The production process involves a monochromatic underpainting while leaving the white of the canvas exposed for certain figures.

Self-taught, he studied intensively a book called Methods and Materials of the Great Schools and Masters by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.

This allows a quick production of monotypes where he can get a couple done per week and allows him to balance the months of painting and layers that have to go on top.

[5] In 2017, while wandering Madrid Van Minnen picked up a watercolor kit and has been making a number of pieces when traveling and outside of the studio.