The lines between the beautiful and the absurd are effaced in the paintings of Antonio de Felipe. Anyone venturing to study his pictures must be prepared for the unexpected, for suddenly you may find Betty Boop dancing hand in hand with Snow White and Superman. Such are his subject worlds – a surprising genre blend, a linking of series characters, classical art, Gothic literature and commercialism side by side with contemporary icon worship.

Antonio de Felipe has painted portraits of brilliant actors whose icon status is secure. Two of them are Audrey Hepburn and Greta Garbo, seen against a wide range of backgrounds – Picasso’s brutal Guernica or space figures reminiscent of Miró, as a third, Marilyn Monroe, parts her ruby lips downstage.

These film star portraits are frequently stylised, though sensitive, created with a uniform colour scale that shifts between shades of yellow, red and blue.

Antonio de Felipe was born in Valencia 1965 and attended the Bellas Artes de Valencia school of art. His home of many years is Madrid.

Together with MariaManuela, Cecilia Cubarle, Philippe Huart and William Sweetlove among others, Antonio de Felipe is one of the members in the group Les nouveauX pop, which has had several exhibitions in Europe and Asia.

Playing with the stereotypical language of the advertising world is the distinguishing characteristic of his work. One example of this can be seen in the paraphrase on Diego Velásquez famous Las Meninas, Spanish for ‘The Maids of Honour’, painted in 1656. Instead of the glass of cold, perfumed water in the original, he places a Fanta soft drink in the hand of the young Spanish princess Margarita.

The princess with the flounce dress. Gold brocade on her bodice. Oranges in her black hair. Always reaching for the ingenious detail.