Modern Allegories: Provocative Oil Portraits by Frank Hollywood

Dutch artist Frank Hollywood paints highly polished oil portraits where the visual language of the Old Masters meets the disruptive energy of the digital age. His figures emerge from dark backgrounds with the precision of classical painting, but the details shift quickly into modern territory, with riot helmets, luxury handbags, champagne bottles, VR headsets and fast-food symbols replacing traditional attributes of status and power.

Frank’s juxtaposition of classical aesthetics, from ruffled lace collars to marble-like skin, with subversive contemporary artifacts translates 17th-century opulence into a language shaped by likes, luxury and consumerist indulgence. The objects in his paintings act as symbols of vanity, authority, excess and spectacle, suggesting that while our possessions evolve, the human drive for self-obsession is always there.

You can explore more of Frank Hollywood’s paintings, as well as his sculptural pieces on his website and Instagram.

More art on the grid Frank Hollywood’s website