MARLENE DUMAS

Marlene Dumas is a South African contemporary painter. She was born in 1953 in Kuilsrivier, South Africa. In 1975, she completed her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town. Dumas was heavily inspired by the work of photographer, Diane Arbus. She then moved to the Amsterdam in 1976 where she studied at the Institute de Ateliers on a scholarship. Her first solo exhibition was in 1983. She now lives and works in Amsterdam.

Jule-die Vrou, Marlene Dumas, Oil on Canvas, 49 x 41 ”, 1985

Dumas's early works are primarily collage. However, in 1984, she began painting the human figure and portraits. She uses the figures in her works as forms that evaluate society's conceptions of identity, sexuality, and race through the lens of current issues, personal experience, and art history. Like many of her contemporaries she works from photographs she has taken or found. The painting Jule-die Vrou was part of her 1985 exhibition, The Eyes of the Night Creatures. The show featured portrait paintings Dumas did hoping to invoke empathy for her subjects from her audience.

Naomi, Marlene Dumas, Oil on Canvas, 59 x 43 ”, 1995

Like Dumas, I am concerned with human identity and what motives/factors formulate one's private and public persona. It is interesting to know that every face is capable of expressing emotions drastically different from their typical. Do we get stuck in a feeling because we have so rigidly defined ourselves that we even have a default feeling. Painting from life is conducive to capturing a true feeling because time and lack of communication allow the subjects walls of expression become transparent. If I decide to work from photographs that I take, then I would like to have my subjects pose for a long duration and wait until their default emotion fades before I capture them in a moment. 

 Jen, Marlene Dumas, Oil on canvas, 43 3/8 x 51 ¼ ", 2005