MIA MAKILA – ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Mia Makila (b. 1979) is an artist, writer and podcaster from Sweden. Makila has exhibited her art on three of the world’s continents.

.

Mia Makila – A pioneering artist from the North

Mia Makila (Mia Mäkilä) @miamakila is internationally acknowledged for her candid art and expressive style –  a mix of the colorful macabre and gothic Pop Surrealism. There is a balanced juxtaposition of creepy and cute, dark and playful, fun and unapologetically daring. The themes vary but are often explorations of the human psyche and primal emotions like fear, angst, shame and rage – always approached with a raw and brutal directness. She describes her creative process as a way of making sense of things;

“I am a highly sensitive person and absorb many levels of reality at the same time, like it’s a cake and I can see all the layers underneath the frosting. I am especially receptive to the subtle “in between” layers of reality, like sudden changes in human energies or the mood and atmosphere of a place or a situation. I also have a big curiosity when it comes to exploring details of reality and life. When you zoom out and look at our world, everything look even more bizarre and strange. I always like to play around with perspectives like that. It is also easier to examine and face difficult topics and painful truths, when you add some contrast to it, like bright colors, juxtapositions or unexpected details.”

.

As a self-taught artist, Makila decided at an early age to follow her own path, rather than taking the conventional way into the Swedish art world. In 2007, she got involved in the European Lowbrow Art Movement and it has positioned her as a pioneering lowbrow artist in Scandinavia and the leading voice for Lowbrow art in Sweden. In 2018, she founded and managed the online artist collective ART MONSTERS OF SWEDEN, the first and only Swedish platform for lowbrow and dark art. The collective dissolved in 2019 but she still has a vision for the ART MONSTERS project to take a new form in the future.

Alongside techniques as acrylic painting and oil pastel drawing, Mia Makila is mostly known for her highly detailed collages. In 2012, she went from making paper collages to creating digital collages in Photoshop. Over the past 17 years of creating digital collages, she has developed her own unique technique in Photoshop, which has the visual quality of both traditional painting and paper collage art.

Dark Inspiration: Grotesque Illustration, Art & Design.

Makila has participated in several prestigious international group shows, alongside some of the world’s best Pop Surrealists and dark artists – including H.R Giger, Henry Darger, Ron English, Kris Kuksi, Travis Louie, Ray Caesar etc. She has been featured in international art books such as The Upset: Young Contemporary Art and Dark Inspiration: Grotesque Illustration, Art & Design..

Artistic Mythology

Mia Makila has developed her own artistic mythology and personal symbolism, with an exquisite eye for bizarre juxtapositions and haunting details. Her art contains recurring symbols like; the eye of providence, upside-down crosses and colorful polka dots. Each piece is infused with personal meaning and charged with deep emotion.

.

.

“As a child, I was plagued by atopic dermatitis. My childhood was filled with periods of physical pain and shame. I use a lot of polka dots, melting or rotting flesh, exposed nerves and scars in my art. Skin is also barrier that I want to claw myself into, since I am always searching for the metaphysical world underneath it.” 

And as for the upside-down crosses, she explains: “When I was a young woman, I lived with an abusive man. He was very religious and attacked me with violence because he claimed that  I was possessed by Satan. It was really scary, but I have liberated myself from his delusion.”

.

“Secret” by Mia Makila (2019), digital collage. Available.

.

The use of hot pink and baby blue, also has a significant meaning in Makila’s art:“I see pink as the color of our inner world. Meat is pink. Most organs are pink. And on the inside, we all look the same (with a few exceptions of course) and on the inside, we are equals. It is beautiful to me. I often use pink also as a symbol of femininity and female gender issues. This is why I often use hot pink against baby blue – to show the juxtaposition between the aggressive feminine energy against the intellectual immaturity of the patriarchy. But I would say that of honesty is probably the loudest color in my palette. To be a truth-teller is the biggest motivation for me, when it comes to any form of creative expression. I find life rather grotesque and surreal. I use the bodily fluids in my work as a reminder of this. We might feel either ‘normal’ or ‘freakish’ – wrong or right, ugly or beautiful – all while our bodies are producing smelly waste which comes out of us in various surreal ways. It’s like we pretend it’s not there,  just like we pretend that we don’t know that gelatine is made from animal carcasses including skin, bones, and connective tissue. So, candy is basically made out of true horror. Stuff like that truly inspires me. I look at primitive emotions and basic human instincts in a similar way. I see them as animalistic energies and some can be super dark and intense, others are like magic (in the same way that Big Bang is magic). That’s when we are really connected with nature and beyond. It’s both frightening and powerful. Perhaps this is why I use animals in my art and elements like tails, horns, saliva, claws and fangs – and also planets, stars and dark space.”

.

Artistic influences

Makila is a self-trained artist. She has been educated in Art History and in History of Ideas. Her academic focus has been on the upside-down worlds created during the Renaissance ‘carnival period’ in Europe. There are many references to early renaissance art in Makila’s art, especially to painters such as Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel and Lucas Cranach.

Mia Makila has a great passion for film and TV-series, which is visible in the cinematic quality of her digital collages. She has stated that the moods and aesthetics of film directors like David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock and Tim Burton are important references in the elements of her creative consciousness. She has various artistic influences that stem from many different sources, such as; Disney Studios (golden era),  folk art, outsider art, the Garbage Pail Kids, Pierre et Gilles, Roger Ballen, Frida Kahlo and René Magritte. 

 

EPILOGEN PODCAST

Makila has been open about her traumas and is an active advocate for survivors of psychological abuse and PTSD awareness. She is currently writing her first novel, that will explore the complexities of trauma and trauma recovery.

In October 2020, Makila launched Epilogen Podcast (in Swedish) a creative podcast about psychological and narcissistic abuse, which she is producing, writing and hosting. Read more about the podcast here (in Swedish).

.

Art Shows (A selection)

2023 – “Merry Haunts Ball III“, Merry Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2023 – “Kulturkossans vårsalong”, Kulturkossan, Bjuråker, Sweden.
2023 – “Från svartvitt till färgrikt”, group show, Dalarnas museum, Sweden
2023 – Norrköpings Konstrunda 2023 group show, Galleri Kronan, Norrköping, Sweden
2023 – NoMoKo Nya Torget, Norrköping, Sweden
2023 – “White Rainbow – HAKKOU -“ Merry Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2021 –  Gallery opening show, group show, Broken Arrowz Gallery, Brighton, UK
2020 – “SPEAK” group show, Kulturkossan, Järvsö, Sweden
2020 – “Merry Haunts Ball 2” group show, Merry Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2019 – “Merry Haunts Ball” group show, Merry Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2018 – “Spegla 2018” group show, NP33, Norrköping, Sweden
2018 – “Art Monsters”, shared solo show, Hallarna, Norrköping, Sweden
2018 – “Art Monsters: Dark Art At Cnema”, group show, Norrköping, Sweden
2014 – “Welcome To The Dreamtime” group show, Stephen Romany Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2013 – “Pixel Portrait” group show, Strychnin Gallery, Berlin. Germany
2012 – “Bewitching II” group show, Stranger Factory, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
2012 – “Don’t Wake Daddy VII” group show, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2012 – “Carnivale Of Terror” group show, Gristle Tattoo, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2011 – “HEY! modern art & pop culture Part I” group show (curated by Anne & Julien), Halle St Pierre Museum, Paris, France
2010 – “The Last Days Of My Demons” solo show, Nationalgalleriet, Stockholm, Sweden
2010 – “Les Nouveaux Monstres” group show, LiFE, Saint-Nazaire, France
2010 – “Don’t Wake Daddy V” group show, Feinkust Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2010 – “Subtleties Of Characters” group show, WWA Gallery, Culver City, CA, USA
2009 – “My Pink Hell” solo show, MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 – “Cut & Paste” group show KG52, Stockholm, Sweden
2009 – “Here To stay” group show MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen
2009 – “Dagsljusdemoner” solo show, Galleri Vända Sida, Linköping, Sweden
2009 – “Maison des Art et de la Culture” EXIT Festival group show, Paris, France
2008 – “It’s All In My Head” solo show, Galleri Ängeln, Lund, Sweden
2008 – “Freak Wave” group show, Galerie Les Singuliers, Paris, France
2008 – Galleri Hera – Solo show, Stockholm, Sweden
2008 – “Holiday In Hell” solo show, Rejmyre, Sweden
2007 – “Don’t Wake Daddy II” group show, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2007 – SMHI – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
2007 – “My Victorian Secret” solo show, Norrköping, Sweden

.

ART SHOWS IN MY OLD ART STYLE

2005 – Löfstad slott – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
2004 – “Vi finns här – självbilder från Sjuhärad” group show, Borås, Sweden
2003 – Löfstad slott – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
2003 – Sjöfartsverket – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
2000 – Tornby Konsthall, Lunnevads elevutställning group show, Linköping, Sweden
2000 – Konstpassagen, Lunnevads elevutställning group show, Linköping, Sweden
1998-2000 – Galleri Pigalle – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
1998 – Migrationsverket – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
1998 – Migrationsverket – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden
1998 – Laxholmskällaren – Solo show, Norrköping, Sweden

.

.

Interview archive

.

International Articles & Interviews