The one that will probably jump out at you first is Spiderman, who appears, humorously adapted to complement the subject, in every one of her paintings (with the single exception of her first, based on The Wolf of Wall Street titled The Colour of Money – she hadn’t thought of the trope when she painted that one).
In her portrait titled Blond Bombshell of Marilyn Monroe, for instance, Spidey wears a blonde wig. On the Madonna image, he’s striking a pose. Alongside Princess Diana is a tiny figure of Prince Charles in a Spiderman outfit. And when he co-stars with Freddie Mercury, he’s wearing the famous yellow leather jacket from the post-Live Aid days.
But this is just one small part of the busy sea of references that range from Disney through The Simpsons to Roy Lichtenstein. Where do they all come from?
“From my children and my other half, Pete – he’s into all that stuff!” she says. “We do brainstorming sessions to come up with cool ideas: for Madonna, there are hidden song titles in there. There’s the Virgin Holidays logo, but made out of two song titles: Like a Virgin and Holiday. And there’s a Lucky Strike cigarette box on there, but it actually says Lucky Star.
“The Princess Diana piece connects to my portrait of the Queen: both images are on stamps stuck on a brick wall. The Queen has lots of photos around her from when she was little, and Diana has lots of Vogue covers – very different, but they link together.
“I’ve also hidden my children’s birthdays in each picture somewhere – if people start collecting my work, they can enjoy looking for all these things!”
Zee – her real name is Zita Som – was born and brought up in Budapest. Both her parents are artists so she grew up in a creative household.
At 18, she moved, alone, to London. “I hardly spoke any English, but I was hungry for success and ready for all the challenges life can bring!” she says now.
She ended up studying Interior Design and Creative Art at Richmond Collage and Digital Art at Elephant Castle College
“I started doing little personalised artworks for friends and family and was receiving more and more commissions from friends and family. But it wasn’t until I went on maternity leave that I decided to try and pursue art as a career: it was my passion, and it allowed me to be around my children.
“I try to create unique and slightly quirky artworks. I’m inspired by things around me; by family and friends, and also by my love of fashion and nature.”
Zee describes herself as a mixed media/digital artist, saying: “Being self-taught, with little awareness of or concern for the ‘rules’, I find myself with a natural tendency to break them!
?“Experimenting with acrylic paints, inks, and various mediums and tools, I sometimes find myself with a finished painting and no clear memory of the individual steps taken on the way.
?“Acrylic and watercolours had always been my choice of media; however, now fast computing capabilities provide the tools to render my vibrant inner world. I absolutely love technology and love creating art with an edge. I’d call my style pop art, or mixed media implemented with the benefit of digital technology.
“I enjoy a freestyle approach to the use of media; I orchestrate the visual components using a variety of techniques. By scanning painted and drawn media into pixels, I manipulate and integrate the imagery with digital painting.
“And nowadays I am more into digital art as I have to work around my children and my artist hours start after 7pm!”