The Daily Muse: Tamara Muller, Painter

Tamara Muller (1975, Wehe den Hoorn, Groningen NL)

‘Tamara Muller’s faces are almost always her own. They are stylized but rendered with an uncanny realism. Other parts of the canvas may be blocked in with simple brushwork or even left unfinished, because it is those faces that matter. They are not self portraits in the basic sense. Each one is a role although the role itself is sometimes vague, flickering between man, animal, woman, child, seducer, victim, sometimes combinations of two or more. There is a tension in them, between the presumed innocence of youth and the transgressive desires and guilt of adulthood. This disturbing psychological dichotomy is carefully balanced by a visual sense of wit and humor. Tamara Muller’s work is an unfolding and unflinching portrait of the self. And the accumulating body of that work is continually adding weight to its depth.”

– David Lewis

Education

After finishing the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 1997 specializing in Graphic Design TM developed her unique visual vocabulary style and solid technical skills as a painter. While she starts an active exhibition career she studies three years at the ‘Actors Studio’ in The Hague and engages in theatrical activities. She uses these experiences making performance art and video’s when she obtains the Master’s of Fine Art degree at the Academy of Art and Design Post St. Joost in Den Bosch in 2007.

Tamara Muller works in Haarlem.

About work

‘…Although themes of power, submission and animalistic tendencies are still central to the work they are now located partly in the public world of politics and media, and less exclusively in the private, inner world of the artist. The painting no longer focuses chiefly on the artist’s idiosyncratic inner struggles but examines the conflicting instincts of bestiality, domesticity, domination, and submission that characterize and afflict all of humanity.’

‘The recent works seem to be more unified. Although fragmented bodies and abstract divisive lines still occasionally appear, the various parts of the paintings seem to occupy a more integrated place. There are fewer fantastical elements and the women now focus on their surroundings and not merely on their internal trials. The relation between intellect and desire, control and emotion appear more balanced…’

’This highly personal art raises universally applicable questions. Not only Tamara’s, but the entire world is constituted by countless unpredictable and conflicting elements. Tamara’s paintings are recreations not only of the artist’s own reality; they represent the game of life, which itself is so full of illusions and contradictions. We can try to analyze the mysteries of this complex, multifaceted world, attempt to solve the riddles and unravel these tapestries of interwoven dichotomies, but we will find neither lucidity nor resolve.’

– Mette Gieskes, Universitair Docent Kunstgeschiedenis van de Nieuwe Tijd, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen