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Genesis Tramaine

Genesis Tramaine (b. 1983) is an expressionist devotional painter who creates abstract portraits of men and women who transcend gender, race, and social structures. She digests the everyday and regurgitates it as work that evokes déjà vu, beckoning memories of past lives and glimpses of undiscovered futures. The blueprint of Genesis’ style is rooted in strong mix of 1980’s urban New York graffiti, and imagined images of gospel hymns sung on Sunday morning during church.

Tramaine paints with a confrontational and provocative use of color and through an urban-inspired, mixed-media approach. The artist describes her practice as focused on the shape and definition of the American Black Face, explaining that her subject’s exaggerated features capture the spirited emotions of the untapped, underrepresented soul of Black people through a mixture of acrylic and oil-based paintings.

Tramaine’s work is also powerfully influenced by Bible verses and other readings she studied in church. Her spiritual influences have a strong impact on the composition and depth of her paintings, which explore deeply human themes including ethics and insanity, the mundane and the inhumane, spirituality, sexuality, and sentimentality. 

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Tramaine earned her M.S from Pace University and B.S from Utica College of Syracuse University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including an inaugural solo exhibition with Almine Rech in London in February 2020, Parables of Nana, as well as exhibitions at Almine Rech's locations in Brussels (2021), Aspen (2021), and New York (2022); In 2023, Tramaine was the subject of the solo exhibition, Everything is Now at the Center for Contemporary Art Vancouver (CICA), and was included in the exhibition, The Echo of Picasso at the Museo Picasso Malaga, Spain. In 2020 Tramaine was the Rubell Museum's featured Artist-in-Residence, a collaboration that concluded with a solo exhibition of the artist's work at the Rubell Museum Miami, Genesis Tramaine, that remained on view for a full year. Additional solo exhibitions have taken place at Richard Beavers Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; The Tree House, Governors Island, New York; The Salt Space, Chelsea, New York; AOF Gallery, New York; and others. Her work resides in prominent museum collections, including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; the Rubell Museum, Miami, Florida; the Crystal Bridges Museum of American, Bentonville, Arkansas; The Bass Museum, Miami, Florida; the Brant Foundation, New York, NY; The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; and the Buffalo AKG Museum, Buffalo, NY, among several others.

  • Biography

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  • Bibliography

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Selected artworks

  • Genesis Tramaine, Mother of Suns of Thunder, 2019

    Genesis Tramaine Mother of Suns of Thunder, 2019

    Acrylic, oil sticks, spray paint
    152,4 x 12109 cm
    60 x 48 Inches

  • Genesis Tramaine, I Have All That I Need, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine I Have All That I Need, 2020

    Acrylic, Oil Sticks, Spray Paint, Yeshua
    182,9 x 121,9 x 3,8 cm
    72 x 48 x 1.5 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, Don’t be Shy, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine Don’t be Shy, 2020

    Acrylic, Oil Sticks, Spray Paint, Yeshua
    182,9 x 121,9 x 6.4 cm
    72 x 48 x 2.5 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, I’m Going Up Yonder, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine I’m Going Up Yonder, 2020

    Acrylic, spray paint, Yeshua, oil sticks, puddy on canvas

    182.9 x 121.9 x 6.3 cm
    72 x 48 x 2 1/2 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, God Gave me a Song, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine God Gave me a Song, 2020

    Acrylic, oil sticks, spray paint, oil pastels, and the Holy Spirit

    243.8 x 243.8 cm
    96 x 96 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, David and Goliath, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine David and Goliath, 2020

    Diptych - Acrylic, Gouache, oil Sticks, oil pastels, Yahweh!
    182.9 x 182.9 cm (each canvas)
    72 x 72 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, Girl Scout, 2020

    Genesis Tramaine Girl Scout, 2020

    Acrylic, oil sticks, spray paint, Yeshua

    182.2 x 182.9 x 6.3 cm
    71 3/4 x 72 1/8 x 2 1/2 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, Jesus loves me: Peek, 2021

    Genesis Tramaine Jesus loves me: Peek, 2021

    Acrylic, oil sticks, oil pastels, gouache, acrylic ink, Spray Paint, Holy Spirit on paper
    76.2 x 57.1 cm
    30 x 22 1/2 in
    32 7/8 x 24 3/4 x 1 1/2 in (framed)

  • Genesis Tramaine, Clinging unto the Lord, 2021

    Genesis Tramaine Clinging unto the Lord, 2021

    Acrylic, oil sticks, oil pastels, Puddy, and the Holy Spirit

    182.9 x 121.9 cm
    72 x 48 in

  • Genesis Tramaine, Feast of The Holy Spouses, 2022

    Genesis Tramaine Feast of The Holy Spouses, 2022

    Acrylic, Lawrys Seasons Salt, The Holy Spirit,
    Oil Sticks, Oil Pastels

    182.9 x 243.8 x 6.3 cm
    72 x 96 x 2 1/2 in

Genesis Tramaine - Parables of Nana, Almine Rech London

Gallery exhibitions

Museum exhibitions

Selected press

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