Meet the Swedish Artist Whose Gold Leaf Paintings of Nobel Prize Winners Are Everyone’s Thing
Swedish artist Niklas Elmehed is an anonymous figure. He lives every artist’s dream – as soon as the images he draws come out, they are viewed and shared by millions of people and media channels around the world.
Still, he’s not a household name. That may be changing, thanks to a tweet from the Nobel committee that said Elmheed is the artist behind the distinctive gold-and-black paintings, along with the annual announcement of Nobel laureates.
How much time is given to them to draw before the announcement? This question, which is asked most often now, is one that he is not allowed to answer. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that, it’s confidential!” On zoom call he says it with easy good humor The Hindu Weekend From the Nobel Committee Headquarters in Stockholm. With Nobel Prizes, it is not only time, but also secrecy.
But he can tell us how to attract winners, both a marathon and a sprint. “I’m very fast, so there’s a few hours for each picture. There’s a lot of preparation at first — it’s like a sporting event: you have to train for weeks, even years, then go to the races.” is, and has to be finished in very little time,” says 44-year-old Elmahed, who has been doing these paintings since 2012.
Niklas Elmheed
Why not photos?
Initially an art director with the Nobel group, he later realized that “it was too difficult to present the winners using photos”. Since they could not be informed before the announcement, fresh photography was not possible. Existing photos had copyright issues, as well as problems with poor quality images for lesser-known winners. “I got tasked with developing a graphic style that would become a brand, and would have a huge impact on the revelation of winners. I work a lot with their eyes – it’s as if they’re looking directly at the viewer. The concept behind it There is a sense of that ‘breaking news.’ When people see these images, they immediately associate them with Nobel Prize announcements,” he says.
On the wall behind the elmhead are rows of portraits of the previous Nobel laureate. The color on the white paper has changed from the initial blue and yellow to the current black and gold. This was done in keeping with the rebranding of the Nobel Prize which uses the colored gold during the announcements.
on process
To explain the artistic process, Elmehed obtains the latest pictures and holds them to the camera. “I use an opaque black vinyl paint applied with a fine brush to do super-thin lines like normal painting. But gold is a little special. I use a metallic foil, which you can see the shimmer in.” I have a special glue that is completely transparent. Sometimes, when I’m in a hurry, I use a heating gun to speed up the drying process.
It is a clever and extremely egalitarian use of the drawing medium: there is a sense of equality, as no one winner has a better picture than the others.
In terms of inspiration, Elmhead made a lot of black and white charcoal drawings while studying at The Royal Institute of Art and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Gold foil is related to ancient icon paintings. “In pictures, you combine these old traditions with the pictorial style of the digital age.”
As an independent artist, his clients include the Swedish national football team and corporates such as Tencent. He has also done commissioned portraits, often for gift-giving purposes, in his trademark vinyl-and-gold leaf style. While these bring great joy to the recipients, he explains that this is only possible if “the portrait is of someone who is not famous, and certainly not in the running for any kind of Nobel Prize!”
life beyond art
Outside of art and picture-making, life is busy as a father of three. “My family is into a variety of sports. I help kids with gymnastics, football, basketball… and I love playing soccer and kickboxing.”
While the current social media buzz hasn’t affected much of her personal life, the family finds it fascinating when famous people retweet her artwork. He confessed, “It was a little special when Barack Obama retweeted this year’s peace prize announcement, featuring pictures of me from journalists!”
Contact Elmehed at niklaselmehed.com | Instagram and Twitter: @niklaselmehed | Facebook: facebook.com/elmehed
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