Artist Paints His Driver's License Photo (And Gets Away With It)

Most people dread their driver's license photo—bad lighting, awkward poses, that deer-in-headlights expression. But Swedish artist Fredrik Säker saw an opportunity for something more creative. In 2012, the then-29-year-old oil painter spent about 100 hours creating a meticulously detailed self-portrait, took a photo of the painting, and submitted it to the Swedish Transport Authority for his license renewal.

The authorities approved it without question.

The Art of Deception

Säker didn't just slap some paint on canvas and call it a day. He studied the Swedish Transport Board's regulations carefully, confirming that nowhere in the code did it explicitly prohibit submitting a photograph of a painting. He worked in his signature hyper-realistic style—the kind of photorealism that makes you do a double-take—to ensure the painted portrait would pass as an actual photograph.

To make it even more convincing, Säker intentionally made himself "look bad" in the painting. After all, nobody looks great in their license photo. That slightly unflattering quality actually made it seem more legitimate.

Mission Accomplished

Weeks later, Säker received his new driver's license in the mail, complete with his painted self-portrait as the official photo. When the story broke, Peter Ranki, a spokesman for the Swedish Transport Board, explained their reasoning with perfect bureaucratic logic: "It looks like a photograph, so we have not had any reason to question it."

The stunt perfectly highlighted the absurdity of bureaucratic systems that rely purely on superficial compliance. If it looks like it follows the rules, it passes—even if the reality is far more interesting.

The Artist Behind the Trick

Fredrik Säker is an oil painter from Örebro, Sweden, known for his work in the "vanitas" tradition—a 17th-century Dutch genre featuring symbols of mortality and change. His paintings combine classical themes with contemporary photorealism, often incorporating found objects like roadkill from around his studio in Älvestorp.

The driver's license project wasn't just a gag; it was a statement about authenticity, representation, and how easily systems can be fooled when we meet their technical requirements without meeting their intent. Plus, it's probably the only driver's license photo in history that took 100 hours to create and could hang in an art gallery.