Ridges and Shadows I

Tamara Makasimović (b. 1995) is a multidisciplinary artist from Serbia, currently working in the field of abstract painting. Her creative journey spans far beyond the canvas – shaped by years of experience in design, movement, and performance.

She began painting at a young age but devoted her early years to rhythmic gymnastics, becoming a national team member and state-sponsored athlete. She later explored acting before enrolling at the Faculty of Applied Arts, where she graduated in 2018 as an interior and furniture designer.

While working professionally in design for over a decade, her artistic impulse continued to evolve in parallel. In 2023, Tamara made the decision to fully dedicate herself to painting. Her first body of work, created in 2024, now forms the basis of her debut solo exhibition.

Drawn to abstraction for its freedom, movement, and unpredictability, Tamara approaches the canvas without rigid plans – letting the paint guide the process. Her signature lies in the use of raw, unprimed cotton canvas, a rare material in the local scene. This technique requires careful preparation and mixing of acrylics with water to create fluid layers and absorbent textures. In addition to acrylics, she works with oil pastels, dry pastels, crayons, spray paint, and graphite – blending diverse media into a personal, instinctive expression.

Nature is a recurring source of inspiration – forests, sea depths, and mountain landscapes often inform her color palettes. Her paintings don’t depict landscapes – they evoke them. Space and form remain open to interpretation, inviting the viewer into their own emotional response.

While painting is her primary focus, Tamara also works in scenography and continues to engage with dance professionally – both mediums that, like her painting, explore movement, space, and presence.

Her artistic voice emerges at the intersection of experience and emotion – between discipline and impulse, intuition and thought, aesthetics and sensation.

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