Tamara Muller (1975, Wehe den Hoorn, Groningen NL)
‘Het werk van Tamara Muller is een onthullend en onbevreesd portret van ‘het zelf’, maar houdt ons tegelijkertijd een spiegel voor.’
De gezichten in mijn werk zijn die van mijzelf. Het zijn geen zelfportretten in fundamentele zin van het woord. Ik speel een rol, maar die is complex. Deze schiet heen en weer tussen combinaties van man, vrouw, volwassene, kind, mens, dier, dader en slachtoffer.Doordat delen van het doek onvoltooid worden gelaten met simpele kwaststreken, wordt de aandacht vooral gevestigd op de personages die de toeschouwer bijna altijd aankijken. Het werk is pas af als iemand ernaar kijkt, en zich bewust wordt van zijn eigen gedachten. Ik wil geen helder verhaal vertellen. Geen eenduidigheid, maar een wisselwerking tussen ogenschijnlijke tegenstellingen; het persoonlijke en het universele, realiteit en fictie, realisme en abstractie. Ambivalent in zowel vorm als inhoud, zijn het beeld en doek gemanipuleerd om de kijker medespeler te maken in dit geschilderde ‘plak en knip’- theater over macht, schuld en schaamte.
Ik schilder “The game of life”, de humor en de pijn, de ontroerende onvolkomenheden van de mens.
‘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 visualsense of wit and humor. Tamara Muller’s work is an unfolding and unflinching portrait of theself. 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 2007
Tamara Muller works in Breda
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, Assistent professor – Department of History, Art History and Classics – Radboud Institute of Culture and History
Commissions and projects
2024
Artist-Talk at Stedelijk Museum Breda with Annemiek Rens (conservator Drents Museum)
2024
Teaching/workshop ‘self-portrait’ at Nieuwe Veste Breda
2024
Van Gogh Air / Artist in Residence at Kosterswoning van Goghhuis – Zundert (februari)
2023
Van Gogh Air / Artist in residence at Atelier de Moeren – Zundert (maart/april)
2023
Temporary Wallpainting ‘LOVE AND SORROW’ at Galerie Bart – Amsterdam
2022
Teaching Masterclass ‘The conceptual self-portrait’ at Onderneming op Kunstgebied – Groningen
2021
DM Studio / artist in residence at Drents Museum (november 2021)
2021
Artist Talk at Drents Museum with conservator Rannilt Pol
2020
Gallery Tour / interview / Video
Galerie Bart Amsterdam
2019
Artist Talk at Gasunie Groningen with Dr. Mette Gieskes (Assistent professor – Department of History, Art History and Classics – Radboud Institute of Culture and History )
2018
artist-writer-talk with Justine le Clercq
Galerie Bart Amsterdam
2017
Boekomslag, Krimp – Justine Le Clercq – Uitgeverij Podium
2015
Lecture at Minerva Art Academy Groningen
2011
De Verwondering, Project geinitieerd door Siebrand Weitenberg. De opbrengst gaat rechtstreeks naar Stichting Chimding www.chimding.nl Siebrand Weitenberg in samenwerking met Michel Hogervorst, Vitorio Roerade, Tamara Muller e.a. Expositie en kunstcassette, Pulchri Studio, Den Haag
2009
Traveling in Borneo/Malaysia with 7 dutch artists on invitation of the Ambassy of Malaysia. The result a group exhibition and publication: Brushwork Odyssey in Malaysia with Gert-Jan Scholte Albers, Niels Janssen, Tamara Muller e.a in Pulchri Studio, The Hague
2006
Study/work-trip to Tokyo
2002/2006
Performance projects in Den Bosch, Breda and The Hague
2002
Mural in former monastery, Tuscany, Italy
2001
Guest teacher, KABK, The Hague
1998-2002
Illustrations for a.o. NRC Handelsblad
Collections
Vincent van GoghHuis, Zundert
Drents Museum
Kwintus collectie
Treadwell Collection
Collection Gasunie
Miniature Museum (Collection Ria & Lex Daniëls)
Stichting Kunstvijver
Museum de Buitenplaats, Eelde
