Background
Tamara Gonzales was born in 1959, in Madera, California, United States.
66 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011, United States
In 1990, Tamara received an Associate in Applied Science degree (Fine Arts) from Parsons School of Design, in New York City.
Tamara Gonzales working in the studio.
Tamara Gonzales was born in 1959, in Madera, California, United States.
In 1990, Tamara received an Associate in Applied Science degree (Fine Arts) from Parsons School of Design, in New York City. Later, in 2005, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vermont College ADP, in Montpelier.
Throughout her career, Tamara took part in numerous group exhibitions, including "Crossections" at Eighth Floor Gallery, New York City, in 1995; "Drawing Show" at Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, Berlin, in 1996; "New York Drawers" at Gasworks Gallery, London, in 1997; "Yaddo Centennial" at Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York City, in 2000; "Lust" at Fe Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2003; "99¢" at Jersey City Museum & Victory Hall, Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2007; "Wall-to-Wall" at Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, in 2010; "Bullet in the Brain" at Brian Morris Gallery, New York City, in 2014; "Drawing Island" at The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, New York City, in 2017 and many others.
Also, she held many solo exhibitions, including "Tamara Gonzales: Untitled" at Norte Maar gallery, Brooklyn, New York City, in 2012; "Winter is Coming" at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York City, in 2014; "Ó Lua" at The Pit gallery, Los Angeles, in 2018 and others.
During her career, Gonzales acted as an artist-in-residence at Vermont Studios Center (1997), Yaddo artists' community (1999), Sanskriti Kendra (Cultural Centre), New Delhi (2001), IAAB (International Artists Exchange Program), Basel, Switzerland (2008) and CCA Andraxt (art gallery), Mallorca, Spain (2012).
Currently, Tamara lives and works in Brooklyn, New York City.
Gonzales' influences derive from the time, spent in India and Mexico, which she visits during Day of the Dead festivities.
Using yard-sale or dollar-store tablecloths, doilies, curtains and lace, collected during her international travels, Tamara Gonzales creates abstract paintings by spray painting through lace. Lace allows her to utilize pattern like different brushes, while spray paint maintains an economy of surface.
Especially important to Gonzales is that many of her prime interests are inherent in the different lace patterns: Baroque churches, rose windows, altars, excess, gaudiness, veiling and craft. Along with an intensity of color and pattern, Gonzales favors the ambiguous moments, that occur, when the patterning begins to blur. She often paints blind and it is not until she lifts the lace up from the canvas, that she can see the drawing.
In her practice, Tamara also used an opened cardboard box as a stencil to create shapes, that morphed into totem figures.
Quotations:
"The patterns [of lace] are like different brushes, a palette of their own."
"I favor mixed media and collage because it allows me the ability to take advantage of the chance encounter of different materials in the studio along with the flexibility to address current world events."