Namamalikmata

"Namamalikmata"

24" x 30" 

Acrylic on Canvas

2022

"Namamalikmata" is an evocative painting that captures the essence of a fleeting moment, a split second when the past comes rushing back to haunt us. The painting portrays the visceral feeling of that chill running down your spine when you see someone from your past that you have completely forgotten about, the sinking feeling in the stomach that leaves you breathless and unsure.

The painting's colors, muted and somber, hint at the depth of emotion that the subject matter evokes. The ghost from the past is a haunting presence, a figure that seems to materialize out of thin air, reminding us of memories we thought were long forgotten. In the split second of contact, the viewer is forced to decide whether to face this ghost from the past head-on, turn away, or let it fade away into the shadows, only to reappear again at a future time.

"Namamalikmata" is a poignant reminder of the power of memory, and the ways in which our past can shape our present and future. It is a testament to the human capacity for resilience and strength, a call to face the ghosts of our past head-on, and to confront the challenges that life throws our way. This is a painting that will leave a lasting impression on those who view it, inviting them to explore their own memories and the complex emotions that come with them.

Marco Tabamo's paintings depict figurative images inflected by the hazy quality of dreams, distant memories, and visceral feelings arising from self-doubt, fears, and personal trauma. Tabamo would make a thin underpainting of the subject and then vigorously add layers of paint to certain parts and wipe them off before completely drying, adding scratches and more paint drips along the way to achieve the desired flow, haze, and texture in keeping with the atmosphere and emotions he wishes to articulate. Displaying markedly Expressionist tendencies while dwelling on seemingly mundane and everyday scenes and drawing from psychological realism, tabamo’s works seek to create a visual vocabulary that could account for his own sense of conflict as someone who feels analogous to a child asserting their existence and their struggle to be heard and visible, while trying to connect to the spectators through representations of bodies and spaces that allude to the broader themes of what makes us all vulnerable and precarious as humans.