ALEXANDER TAMAHN

Painter/Muralist/Bead Artist

Throughout my formative years, I experienced a great deal of toxicity and instability, which in turn caused me to often lead a very shy and withdrawn existence. Quite content with my imagination, maybe a few markers or colored pencils (really whatever I could get my hands on), and my solitude, I quickly found visual art and design to be an effective means to express individuality and embrace uniqueness. I intuitively understood the importance and power of color and texture as a means of articulation, but remained inhibited by perfectionism. Still, I’ve always been drawn to bold saturated hues, striking forms, and contrasting juxtapositions.

People enamor and befuddle me. I’ve long been intrigued by how individuals think, draw conclusions, and interact with one another. It’s fascinating how we share more commonalities than not, yet alienate ourselves within our own psyche. I find portraiture a means to study and comment on both the individual and the collective. I think we spew platitudes like, “If looks could kill,” or, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” because we have both a sense our own depth and complexity, yet an instinctual
awareness of how little we truly know of ourselves and each other.

Because art, for me, has been the convergence of creative expression and anthropology, I have found
employing mixed medium best helps me consolidate the litany of things I could say about both my
subjects and audience alike. I equate combining diverse materials and different techniques with having a substantial vocabulary; if you have a lot you’d like to say, it helps to have many words at your disposal. My compositions are an amalgam of the sum of my developmental experiences, my spirituality, and my evolving perspective of the society and cultures of which I belong.