Painting is rarely about the object itself; it is about the extraction of a personal code from the familiar. In my latest series, The 2026 Still Life & Identity Studies, I have returned to my most intimate milieu—the home. It is here, in the quiet arrangement of a basket of lemons or the geometry of pomegranates, where the domestic setting transcends mere description and enters the realm of pure art.
The centerpiece of this exploration is Self-portrait with Vincent after Self-Portrait as a Painter. By positioning my own identity alongside the lineage of Van Gogh, I am navigating the historical tension between the male “master” and the contemporary female agency. It is a dialogue of brushstrokes, a pairing of influences that seeks to define what it means to be a woman painter in 2026.
These works—recognized by Chief Curator Rebecca Wilson for the Saatchi Art ‘Best of 2026’ collection—represent a refinement of my painting language. They are not just records of a bright winter day or a vase of twigs; they are an invitation to see the extraordinary within the mundane.
by van Gogh, Tamara Jare, oil on canvas, 2026
