msl - portraits

title: Muse in the studio
medium: oil on canvas
size: 20x30 cm
year: 2024

This small-sized painting was done from life, not from a photo, in many thin layers over the course of several months, just like most of my classical-style portraits.

Title: Muse Peek
size: painting: 6,5x8,2 cm, frame: 14,5 x16cm
medium: oil on canvas
year: 2024

She looked through the frame — and I painted that exact moment, as seen in the photo below. I used Leonardo’s sfumato technique, building up many thin layers of skin tones over six months.

title: Politician
medium: oil on canvas
size: 45x60 cm
year: 2017
The fist is at once a symbol of power, violence, and threat. At the same time, throughout history, the raised fist has also stood for the rebellion and resistance of the masses. The painting therefore carries a double meaning: the violence of ruling power, and the strength of the people. The politician appears as a faceless figure, whose identity is defined solely by the gesture itself. It conveys not dialogue, but pressure. The suit evokes institutionalized, official authority, behind which the same gesture repeatedly emerges. The work is ironic, yet unsettling: politics is ruled not by the human face, but by the logic of force. Politician thus becomes both a critique of power and a symbol of collective uprising. The yellowish hue refers to the spotlight that illuminates the politician during campaigns and public appearances, while at the same time lending the figure a slightly sickly tone. This artificial light both exposes and conceals, underscoring the theatrical nature of power.

title: Girl with a Pearl Earring (Vermeer reproduction)
medium: oil on canvas
size: 39x43 cm
year: 2017-2019

I worked on this reproduction for almost a year and a half. This painting is often referred to as the "Mona Lisa of the North." Its technique remains a true enigma, even after X-ray scans. I painted it in a total of 33 layers; after the fifth layer, I painted the capillaries on the face, then covered them with 27 additional layers of skin tone (you can see the process in the second image below), similar to how the epidermis covers the veins in the human body.

I painted the piece on commission, with the expectation being a perfect match in museum quality. The techniques I learned through this process I still apply when painting portraits today. The painting almost developed an aura of its own — something that, of course, photos simply cannot capture.