Artist Tamo Jugeli in front of an untitled 2023 artwork.
Photo: DANYA ZELIKOVSKY, COURTESY OF POLINA BERLIN GALLERY
Next Big Things: Tamo Jugeli
The Brooklyn artist’s feral, expansive paintings aren’t easy to pin down
Artist Tamo Jugeli in front of an untitled 2023 artwork. Photo: DANYA ZELIKOVSKY, COURTESY OF POLINA BERLIN GALLERY
They’ve been described as surreal and grotesque, but Tamo Jugeli’s feral, expansive paintings aren’t easy to pin down, which is just the way she likes it. The Brooklyn artist evokes the art world’s most inventive voices, from Charline von Heyl to Christina Quarles. “I support anyone’s opinions and responses to my work,” she says. “If people can see or feel something when looking at the paintings, it means it’s there.”
Creative journey: “Before I turned 22, I never had any interest in visual art,” says the talent, who studied journalism in college and creates from deep necessity. “I started painting at a very low point in my life and found it was the most healthy coping mechanism to process my emotions. Painting healed me in many ways and helped me grow as a person.”
Tamo Jugeli, Untitled, (2023). Photo: Steven Probert; Courtesy the artist and Polina Berlin Gallery
Tamo Jugeli, Untitled, (2023). Photo: Steven Probert; Courtesy the artist and Polina Berlin Gallery
Frame of reference: “I see painting as a very long, never-ending process,” explains Jugeli, whose new large-scale work is on view at NADA Miami with Polina Berlin Gallery. “If there exists a hell for painters, to me it would be having a singular, immovable style. I know on some level I have a personal aesthetic, but with each new series I’m trying to escape it. A big part of my practice is to be done with a specific space I was exploring for a few months and then move in another direction.”
“Tamo’s work expresses a complete freedom that instantly hits me in the gut every time I look at it. The therapeutic nature of it inspires a feeling of catharsis and reminds us of art’s potential to transform and inspire”
Daniel S. Palmer
Tamo Jugeli, Untitled, (2023). Photo: Steven Probert; Courtesy the artist and Polina Berlin Gallery
Tamo Jugeli, Untitled, (2022). Photo: Steven Probert; Courtesy the artist and Polina Berlin Gallery
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Winter Issue under the headline “Next Big Things.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Click here to see the full list of “Next Big Things.”
Cover: Artist Tamo Jugeli in front of an untitled 2023 artwork.
Photo: DANYA ZELIKOVSKY, COURTESY OF POLINA BERLIN GALLERY
