Tamara Ruiz is a contemporary artist working in a number of mediums, primarily mixed-media. Her mixed media work combines vintage photographs and ephemera with the modern aspects of paint, surface design and imagery of the graffiti on trains that pass by our farm. Tamara's work consists of strong shapes and a well-defined color palette influenced by the small towns and open prairies of my environment, as well as by the graphic style of old postcards and vintage photographs populating local estate sales and antique shops. The juxtaposition of the old and the new gives her work a contemporary twist.
Tamara's large collection of original vintage photos and abandoned family photo albums provide the focal point for each piece. She creates her own story, or interpretation, of the featured vintage photo with the composition and design choices she make. Layers of paper and paint – distressed with sandpaper throughout the process – allow the collage process to show through. Many of the photos she uses show people having a good time or expressing a sense of humor. She wants people to smile when they look at her work and she wants them to feel a connection with – or a curiosity about – the person in the photo. The expressions and nostalgic details of the photographed subjects, when enlarged to 3 or 4 feet, make a big impact on the viewer. It saddens Tamara that in 50 years there aren’t going to be boxes of vintage photos and handwritten letters at estate sales for someone to buy. Photos are kept on phones and computers today, and emails have replaced handwritten letters.