As an abstract painter, I seek beauty, balance, and peace in my art.
Each painting speaks to me in its own language, guiding my choice of color, stroke, and composition. Sometimes a painting comes together as a vision of beauty almost on its own, and my job is to complete it with a simple dot or line. Other times, I must search for the story’s conclusion myself.
My art is inspired by known and unknown places: ancient Buddhist grotto paintings in my distant homeland; satellite images that I look at when I miss my childhood hometown; pictures of Earth taken from space; and images of extraterrestrial planets and an unbounded universe. Using oils, acrylics, ink, and collage techniques, I explore the essence of these places as a way to capture my memories, dreams, and layers of experience in two-dimensional form.
For me art is not a strict reflection of my biography or culture. My paintings are a form of personal expression, a process of finding balance and making connections between distinct elements.
About the Artist
Mamatjan Juma is an abstract painter based in metro Washington DC. He was born and brought up in the ancient city of Kashgar of East Turkestan (AKA Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region).
He was trained in French academic techniques and socialist realist ideology at Xinjiang Arts Institute. He moved to the United States in 2003 to pursue a master’s in fine arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. During his studies he experimented with techniques of abstract expressionism and was exposed to the works of American masters such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, as well as of Gerhard Richer and other European masters.
Upon graduating in 2005 from Washington University, Mamatjan Juma moved to Virginia, where he currently resides . He has participated in many local and international group shows.