The creative minds of artists are an unending source of fascination for me. They way they each devise their own visual language in order to express to the world what they find most important and intriguing amazes me. Sharing a common human nature, we often see overlapping meaning and ideas, yet the method by which those views are interpreted and conveyed is as unique as each artist. In her work, Portland artist Tamara English explores how our own inner atmosphere informs the way we experience the world, but she does so in a marvelously distinct fashion.
From the artist:
“The paintings integrate the visual vocabularies of quantum physics, Islamic tile-work, illuminated manuscripts, and abstracted forms derived from the natural world. In particular the multi-layered paintings reference the rhythm and movement of the decorative elements found in mosques, Turkish dervish lodges, and medieval European books of hours, which for me evoke the unseen energies that move in our lives.”
Through the use of abstract texture, forms and movement, English references the “ocean of particles in constant motion informing the physical and subtle world” which characterize her take on quantum physics. Her use of naturalistic elements associated with Islamic tile-work and illuminated manuscripts manifest for us those physical symbols of inner life. Within each of us exists that same push and pull, our conflict between the wonder of either our faith in or the possibility of the divine and the concrete certainty of what we can see with our own eyes.
To see more of Tamara English’s work, please visit her website.
Featured image is The Queen’s Birthday ( detail ), oil on canvas, 18×18, All images are via the artist’s website unless otherwise noted.
