PapaDahlPaintings has always “dabbled in doodling,” but says it wasn’t until he participated in a sip-and-paint wine night with his wife that he felt like he found his medium.
“[The paint night] was at home, there was no structure, like, ‘Hey, let’s get some canvases and paint,’ and [my wife] painted something from the little star from the Mario Movie,” he said. “I painted Shrek in high heels, lounging.”
PapaDahlPaintings describes his art as “zesty art for the zesty” — where he incorporates meme culture as well as dark humor into his style.
His work features both fictional and nonfictional characters, whether it be Kermit the Frog smoking a joint and admiring the sunset, or Mike Myers as Cat in the Hat hitting Elon Musk with a bat.
“I did sort-of corner myself into a 9/11-esque genre, which I think people are into,” he said. “I think it’s a big millennial thing.”
He says he went through a phase early on in his painting journey where he would only paint Shrek, and auction them off on Facebook through a local group, where bidding begins at $1 and goes for 24 hours.
“I had this phase where I started off drawing ugly people, intentionally ugly people, because it cracks me up,” he said. “That’s one thing I enjoyed as I made art, I loved laughing with it.”
A friend of his eventually encouraged him to start an Etsy, and after one of his paintings blew up on Tiktok, he pivoted to his own website that he tag-teams with his wife.
“It exploded, it sold out in a day — I was panicking,” he said.
Right now, PapaDahlPaintings is trying to figure out what his next move is; he has stickers, mugs, magnets, apparel and prints on his website for sale.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
