Mikael Takacs Creates Mesmerizing Paintings with Marble Effects

Swedish artist Mikael Takacs creates mesmerizing paintings that he then distorts with marble effects. His subjects are people that he has met in his own life, warped into his own interpretations using the abstract expression of marbling. “I find that the half abstract nature of my portraits makes it both easier and harder to connect with them. It’s harder in the sense that you can’t really see who it is, or maybe even what it is. It may be easier to connect with them for basically the same reason, as you can project so much of your own thoughts onto someone you can just barely see,” he shared in an email to Hi-Fructose. Marbling has been around for hundreds of years, but in spite of that, his acrylic paintings are often mistaken for digital art. He first uses droppers to pour paint onto the canvas, which has to be completely horizontal, otherwise the paint would run off the canvas. When the paint is distributed across the canvas, he begins distorting the portrait by dragging the paint around using various tools, like sticks and combs. This results in intricate patterns that form his subjects, a process that makes them anonymous. Takacs is currently preparing his first solo exhibition at Galleri Ramfjord in Oslo, Norway, opening in spring 2016.