* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Mike Dargas is an artist living and working in Cologne, Germany. His love for painting began at a young age and attended art school as a child in a class of adults.
Inspired by Dali, Caravaggio and HR Giga, Dargas explores themes of reality and the surreal in his hyperrealistic oil paintings and charcoal drawings. His quest for perfection results in works that read like photographs, snapshots of mental states. His subjects appear conflicted, lost in thought, or even sublimely calm. Dargas challenges both himself and the viewer to take a deeper look at the subject, in order to question human nature and emotional perception.
Mike explains his work by saying, “I try to create realistic art on the edge to hyperrealism. Hyperrealism is pure perfection but I want people to understand that it is still a painting. You will always be able to see brushstrokes in my works…. to pay homage to the Old Masters.”
