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Artist Arena is a curated platform built by and for artists. Through physical exhibitions in Stockholm and our online marketplace, Artist Arena Market, we connect contemporary artists with collectors across the globe. We represent a diverse community – from emerging talents and growing voices to established names – and showcase original works in carefully selected and inspiring environments. Our mission is to build a positive, supportive community that empowers more artists to grow, reach new audiences, and pursue their dreams. For collectors, we offer direct access to unique contemporary art and the opportunity to invest in a wide range of artistic expression.

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Artist ArenaPortfoliosMikaela Fridh

About

I am a Sweden-based abstract artist working primarily with mixed media. My practice centers around texture, layering, and a restrained color palette, exploring the balance between structure and softness.

I work intuitively, often building surfaces through materials such as acrylic, plaster, fabric, and modeling paste. The process is slow and tactile, allowing each layer to respond to the previous one.

The act of painting has also functioned as a grounding and reflective practice, particularly during periods of personal transition, reinforcing my interest in slowness, repetition, and tactile processes.

My work aims to create quiet, contemplative pieces that invite the viewer to pause and experience subtle shifts in color, depth, and material. Alongside my artistic practice, I have a background in communication and visual storytelling, which informs my sensitivity to composition, balance, and visual narrative.

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Inspiration

My inspiration comes from quiet environments, natural textures, and subtle transitions found in everyday surroundings - worn walls, layered surfaces, shifting light, and organic imperfections.

I am drawn to moments of stillness rather than contrast, and to materials that carry traces of time and touch. Nature, interior spaces, and emotional states such as calm, tension, and balance all play a role in shaping my work.

The inspiration is often less about specific visual references and more about atmosphere — a sense of softness, restraint, and presence that I seek to translate into physical form through my materials and process.

I am a self-taught artist with a background in communication and visual storytelling.

My artistic practice has been shaped through continuous independent study, material exploration, and hands-on experimentation. Growing up in a family where painting was a natural part of everyday life has also influenced my approach to visual expression and materials from an early age.

I am currently working on new series of abstract works, continuing my exploration of texture, layering, and tactile processes.

I am open to upcoming exhibitions, collaborations, and curatorial projects.

I primarily work with mixed media, combining acrylic paint with materials such as plaster, fabric, gesso, and modeling paste.

My technique focuses on building surfaces through layering, texture, and subtle tonal shifts rather than defined imagery. I am interested in how materials interact, absorb, and resist one another, allowing traces of process to remain visible in the final work.

The tactile quality of the surface plays a central role in my practice, where material choices are used to create depth, restraint, and a quiet visual tension.

My painting process is slow, intuitive, and layered. I often begin without a fixed outcome, allowing the work to develop through repetition, adjustment, and response.

Surfaces are built gradually, with time between layers to observe how color, texture, and material interact. I frequently work back and forth - adding, removing, and refining - until a sense of balance and stillness emerges.

The process is as important as the finished work, emphasizing presence, tactility, and attention to subtle detail rather than immediate resolution.

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