Ultra-realistic portraits with a pinch of the otherworldly by the artist Marco Grassi

30-year-old Italian artist Marco Grassi paints intricate portraits so realistically that they look like photographs. What makes his work even more remarkable are the small extraordinary details that he awards to his characters. Because of this, Grassi balances on a fine line between hyperrealism and surrealism, masterfully confusing the imagination of his viewers.

"My goal is to evoke strong emotions, to try to make people more receptive. I want to combine reality and surrealism in order to explore human nature and people's thoughts in a more individual manner," explains the artist.

The time spent working on one portrait depends on its size and complexity, but Grassi usually devotes several months to the painting: "This is a very long work that requires extreme attention at all stages."

By adding surreal elements to portraits (instead of just depicting real features), Grassi seeks to emphasize the dual nature of life: "Our inner world, intimate and extremely sensitive, in contrast to our interest in the outside of things — such as vases, pots, sinks. They are beautiful and expensive, but empty."

"My most important task is always to maintain the highest quality of portraits, both in human features and in additional elements; to try to create a work that is homogeneous in all aspects, as well as to overcome the idea of painting that only imitates photography," explains Grassi.