Markus Åkesson

Markus Åkesson (born in 1975, Kalmar, Sweden) is a contemporary painter, who lives and works in Nybro, Sweden.

Markus’s artistic journey is rooted in myth and magic. “In my childhood home there was a book called Among Gnomes and Trolls: a collection of Scandinavian folk tales and myths, illustrated in Jugendstil (or Art Nouveau) by the Swedish 19th century artist and illustrator John Bauer.” A “real gem” the book inspired him greatly to start drawing as a child. Words continue to provide creative fuel, with books including Art & Alchemy, The Art of Transformation among the titles housed in his studio, a 19th century old glasswork factory in Pukeberg, Nybro; a small town surrounded by forests in southeast Sweden. (…)

 A backdrop to his childhood, the forest is like a family to Markus, who keeps its mystery, beauty and ancient lore alive. “Myths about beauty are often tales of paradox and contradiction, (…) like the Scandinavian ‘Hulder’, the forest creature with a beautiful front and a hideous back, who lures men to lose their way into the forest.” This otherworldly realm, abundant with beauty well-disguised, is a “hidden world that slowly manifests into his paintings. Working in a classical way with brushes and oil paints,” he takes the viewer on a journey beyond fact, beyond fiction, to a place somewhere in-between. (…)The viewer, engaging with his artwork, transcends the everyday to experience a state of awe; it is in this transitional moment – in this in-between state – that “the artwork becomes something that is out of the artists control.” (…)

Markus, “a spiritual person”, considers “the artist as a shaman, who through his/her practice helps the viewer to see or enter another world.” He “feels the need to understand and acknowledge different realities are as old as mankind itself, it is a part of us.” Exploring themes of different realities, identity and ideas of beauty, Markus, in his Now You See Me series, engages the viewer in a dense, dramatic dialogue depicting figures fully enveloped in richly adorned, bright and lavish fabrics. In these paintings, “the protagonists, in their quest for beauty, eventually disappear into the background, consumed by their own beauty.” The masked models “become involuntarily hidden from the real world, and thus they come to represent a hidden reality.” He challenges what we know by arousing inner conflict. Greeted with a powerful palette – an introduction of imperial red, sunset gold, forest green, and sky blue – the viewer is bewitched by the overlaying of repetitive patterns. But initial consolations are quickly confronted with an unnerving mise-en-scène: dark, dense, and full of suspense. Set against a sinister backdrop, his protagonists – masked and motionless – are blind to the world, not able to breathe, nor speak. He shines a sophisticated understanding of light, shadow and composition on to each frame – illuminating each protagonist, and igniting imagination with every crease, every fold and every pattern. Patterns have always fascinated the artist; partly because he “finds patterns mysterious and partly because of the technical challenge of painting them.” 

(…)The ‘real world’, for Markus, “is more of a mindset than a truism, and the same goes for the unreal, or the surreal world. We all perceive it differently.” The paintings’ repetition of pattern, arresting palette and organic motifs offer a visceral expression of nature as a true reflection of reality whatever face ‘truth’ wears, whichever way reality’ is perceived, Mother Nature’s presence prevails. Herein lies the beauty, folks. (…) Nature carves a path to man’s spiritual quest and Markus’ work is the door through which the quest begins.

“Organic Fabric” by Sarah Claire Picton for Beautiful Bizzarre Magazine
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