Monique van Steen, (Holland, 1976) uses the term “Beauties” (even when expressing herself in Spanish) for the faces she paints, in the same way the fashion industry uses it when referring to close-up photography.
Her portraits are another way of depicting classical beauty.
Taken from the fashion-industry pedestals, such as fashion magazines and advertisements, the faces are reduced to the maximum flatness of colour-fields.
Yet contradicting the above, these contemporary goddesses are not deprived of their complexity; their optimism, faith or vanity combined with their personal grace are emphasised by the seemingly casual and bold traces of the dripped synthetic varnish on top of the flat acrylic surface, thus creating a literally layered image, not only adding life and character, but also questioning the mere existence of chance and thereby beauty.

Monique van Steen: website