The Art of Nicole Duennebier, Including Her Works of Ruffs, Pearls, and Rotten First-Fruits

Nicole Duennebier’s vibrant works meld 17th- and 18th-century aristocratic portraits with vanitas still lifes and biological illustrations of deep-sea or microscopic life.

Her paintings, featuring intriguing titles like “Floral Hex” and “Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness,” evoke a complex blend of the organic and mystical. They appear as opaline, viscous forms reminiscent of internal organs, yet formed in surreal clusters. Through her classical style, Duennebier crafts a world of alluring yet alien organisms and systems, infused with the chiaroscuro light of the Old Masters. Her art, filled with undersea, microbial, and alien imagery, presents a continuous evolution of entropic beauty, creating a unique aesthetic universe that is simultaneously fascinating and unsettling.

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