Everland
- Michel
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Painting Michael Jackson beyond...
A figure beyond clarity
Some figures transcend their time so completely that they become impossible to see clearly while they are alive. Michael Jackson was one of them.
He was observed, analyzed, idolized, judged, defended, condemned. He became a symbol onto which the world projected its obsessions and fears. Yet behind the icon, behind the headlines and controversies, lived a profoundly sensitive artist. A fragile being of rare emotional depth. Someone who seemed to exist slightly out of sync with the world around him.
Imagining another realm
When I began working on Everland, I was not interested in painting the superstar. I was not interested in choreography, fame, or nostalgia. I wanted to imagine Michael Jackson in another realm. A place where the noise stops. Where judgment dissolves. Where the soul is finally allowed to rest.
This painting belongs to my Beyond series, a body of work that explores figures at the threshold between worlds. Between the visible and the invisible. Between what we think we know and what remains intangible. These are not portraits in the traditional sense. They are emotional presences. They exist in a space that is felt more than it is defined.
Everland as continuity
The title Everland is intentional. Not Neverland as an escape or a refuge frozen in childhood, but Everland as continuity. As something enduring. A realm outside linear time. A state where innocence is not questioned or defended, but simply allowed to exist.
In the painting, Michael is seated, withdrawn, introspective. His eyes are closed. He is not performing. He is not being watched. He is listening inward. The posture is calm, almost meditative. It suggests stillness rather than spectacle.
Around him, nature becomes symbolic rather than descriptive. Birds, flowers, and lush vegetation form a living atmosphere that feels both protective and fragile. Birds often appear in my work as messengers between worlds, as carriers of transition and memory. Here, they are gentle and attentive. They do not demand attention. They accompany.
Baroque abundance, painterly freedom
The entire painting carries a baroque sensibility, not through precision or ornament, but through abundance. The composition is rich and layered, almost overflowing, yet built with loose, expressive brushstrokes that remain intentionally unresolved. Forms appear, dissolve, and reappear. At first glance, the image feels busy, even lush, but it is not descriptive. It does not rely on detail. It relies on movement, color, and emotional density.
This tension between figurative presence and painterly freedom is essential. The figure is clearly recognizable, yet the world around him resists definition. The brushwork allows the painting to breathe. It invites the viewer to enter emotionally rather than analyze visually. What matters here is not accuracy, but atmosphere.
The clothing echoes a romanticized, almost theatrical elegance reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s own aesthetic language. Yet it is stripped of performance. What remains is intimacy. Humanity. Softness. The baroque influence here is not historical. It is emotional. It lives in a sense of overflow, in a refusal of restraint, in an acceptance of vulnerability.
This painting was never conceived as a statement. It did not originate from commentary, provocation, or distance. It came from affection and empathy. From a deep respect for the artist and the human being behind the icon.
I never approached Michael Jackson with irony or judgment. Those ideas simply do not belong here. Everland is an offering. A quiet space. A way of imagining him beyond the narratives imposed upon him, and beyond a world that so often misunderstood him. It is a gesture of care rather than interpretation.
Rehumanizing the myth
Michael Jackson’s life was shaped by extremes. Extreme talent. Extreme exposure. Extreme pressure. From a very young age, he lived under a microscope that left little room for emotional shelter or personal development. When I paint figures like him, I am less interested in facts than in emotional truth. Art has the capacity to rehumanize those we have turned into myths.
In Everland, I wanted to imagine Michael as a being finally released from labels. Not innocent. Not guilty. Not defended. Not accused. Simply present.
From original painting to collector editions
The response to this painting surprised me, even though I felt its emotional weight while working on it. The original oil on canvas, measuring 100 x 100 cm, was sold before its public presentation on my website. That confirmed something I had long suspected. Many people still carry a deep, unresolved emotional connection to Michael Jackson. Not only as a musician, but as a symbol of lost innocence, vulnerability, and beauty.
For those who connected with this work, I decided to release a limited number of museum-quality Giclée prints. These prints are produced with great care, using archival pigment inks on fine art paper selected for its depth, texture, and longevity. Each print is inspected and accompanied by a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity, verifying the artwork details and edition number.
These prints are not reproductions meant to decorate a wall. They are intended to preserve the emotional density, atmosphere, and symbolic presence of the original painting. They are for those who feel a resonance with this imagined realm. For those who understand that some figures never truly leave. They simply move beyond.
Everland is not about the past. It is about what remains when everything else fades. The part of us that still longs for gentleness. For wonder. For quiet beauty.
This is what the Beyond series is about.
Everland
Oil painting on canvas
Size: 100 x 100 cm (39x 39’)
Original Sold | Prints available for sale here.
Comments