Gabriel Isak: Surreal World with a Touch of Melancholy

Artistic Background

     Gabriel Isak is a young photographer born in Huskvarna, Sweden – the land of a boundless source of artistic inspiration. When he first started photography, in 2015, Gabriel Isak recognized the power of shooting that enables so much needed creativity. He realized that photography helps us in finding and expressing ourselves. Currently based in Stockholm, Isak graduated Photography at the Academy of Art University in 2016. Since his first exhibition, Isak showed that he is an artist with the intrinsic motivation. Some of the most famous series of photos exposes his melancholic temper and awareness of the potential of the human inner life.

Melancholy as an Inspiration in Gabriel Isak’s Photography Work

Gabriel Isak early felt melancholy – a future inexhaustible spring of his inspiration. Since the moment he realized that melancholy is a big part of his life, he started using its potentials in a creative way. His series of images called The Blue Journey represents the creative way of “twisting” a depressed period of his life into artistic expression. At the same time when he experienced melancholy, he began being interest in psychology and dreams, realizing the complexity of human nature. This changed his perception of the world surrounding him, interest about the inner world and searching for deepest thoughts and feelings permanently affected his photography work. He realized that photography is a perfect medium for interpreting the unconscious and the spiritual life.

He said once:

I use photography as a metaphor for experiences of the soul.

The Process of Creation: Imagine a Story and Make It True!

A few years ago Gabriel Isak described the process of producing photos – the important thing is to visualize the final photo. For this reason, he uses words or sketches to imagine it and later shows them to the models. In the art world of photography, the artist is well known for his “peculiar mood” in photographs. His photos show surreal scenes and the atmosphere of melancholy that he accomplishes with faceless models and symbols of the fog, birds and the ocean – three of the most important elements in his life. Photos of isolated silhouettes, mainly with faces hidden behind veil or smoke, invoke “the internal world that we need to learn how to live with”. He fulfills his aim carefully choosing the perfect spot for his photos and precise time of the day. Gabriel Isak features the “gloomy” atmosphere with light and composition.