



Description |
With Lapis Lazuli ~ Dollar, Ellen de Meijer reframes her archetypal Wall Street portrait against the unmistakable backdrop of American currency. The figure—a fintech leader rendered with her signature direct gaze—stands poised in crisp uniform, Civil War–styled belts crossing her chest, a gilded buckle anchoring her authority. The jewel ring, worn brazenly over industrial gloves, crystallizes the tension between wealth, labor, and spectacle.
In this edition, de Meijer layers the portrait over the ghostly imprint of a U.S. dollar bill, transforming the work into a stark commentary on the structures that govern ambition and success. The halftone textures and graphic immediacy of screen printing underscore the reproducibility of value itself—both financial and cultural—while the luminous yellow gloves and sapphire-blue ring punctuate the composition with signals of both opulence and fragility.
As with the broader Lapis Lazuli series, this work interrogates material wealth, power, and the contradictions of modern capitalism, offering a portrait that feels at once timeless and deeply tied to the contemporary moment.
About the artist |
Ellen de Meijer (b. 1955, Netherlands) is a Dutch contemporary artist whose practice has found strong resonance with collectors in the United States and throughout Latin America. As a female artist working in portraiture, she is known for her incisive depictions of modern-day archetypes—figures that embody the contradictions of status, material wealth, and authenticity in an age defined by global capitalism and digital culture.
Her work has been exhibited at major international fairs including Art Miami, Art Stage Singapore, and Hong Kong Contemporary, and in 2022 she was selected for NADA Curated by the New Art Dealers Alliance. Her paintings are also housed in prominent private collections, including the VanDenBroek Foundation, one of the Netherlands’ top three.
Details |
- Title: 'Lapis Lazuli ~ Dollar'
- Year: 2024
- EDM-1 series: Limited edition of 50, hand-signed and numbered
- Screen print on paper
- Sheet size: 19.7" x 25.6" (50 x 65 cm)
- Art size (excl. white border): 13" x 18.9" (33 x 48 cm)
- Mat size (framed only): 4" (10.2 cm) around, 4-Ply, Paper White.
- Framing dimensions: interior: 23 × 28 1⁄2 inches, exterior: 23 7⁄8 × 29 3⁄8 inches
- Worldwide fulfillment by UPS; shipping costs calculated at checkout.
Curator Review
" (...) de Meijer dissects the society-exposing uncomfortable truths that are routinely glossed over. (...) "