Mikail Akar

Mikail Akar (9 October 2012) is a German painter. He became publicly known in 2017 at the age of 4. Since, he has held various art exhibitions in several major cities, making him internationally known. Akar's painting style is usually described as Abstract Expressionism.

Life
Akar was born in October 2012 in Cologne, Germany. He is fluent in English, Turkish, and German. He has two younger siblings and visits the International School Cologne.

Akar started to paint at the age of four. His father posted a picture of his first painting on Facebook, which led to several offers to buy it. After Akar's first exhibitions, his parents gave up their jobs and founded an artists' agency representing Mikail Akar and other artists.

In 2021, Akar took part in the German game show Klein gegen Groß, hosted by Kai Pflaume.

Work
Akar paints with undiluted acrylic paints, and his paintings often contain geometric ornamentation. They are influenced by abstract expressionism and neo-impressionism. Akar himself describes his painting style as action painting in the style of Jackson Pollock, because he applies various colors directly on the canvas, one after the other, directly from the tube, or sometimes with a boxing glove.

In addition to paintings, Akar paints on various vehicles, including vintage cars such as a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a VW T1 and a 1976 Mustang. A Rolls-Royce redesigned by Akar sold for €400,000.

Akar regularly supports social projects. He has collaborated with artists, public figures and companies, including Peter Maffay and Manuel Neuer. In 2022, he designed labels for water bottles of the German company Gerolsteiner Brunnen.

Exhibitions
In 2017, Akar began showing his paintings at exhibitions. Initially, these took place in his home Cologne. In 2018, he held his first national exhibition in Großkarlbach, Rhineland-Palatinate. In the following years, Akar held several art exhibitions throughout Germany, including exhibitions in Berlin in 2019 and at Cologne Bonn Airport. For the latter exhibition, he painted dismantled fuselage panels of a decommissioned Airbus A310.

Since 2022, Akar has also shown his art at international art exhibitions, including in Zürich, New York, Vienna, and Istanbul, fetching five-figure sums. His work King of New York was auctioned at the Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2022 for US$16,000, and he donated the revenue to an art project for children.