MARLON JAY TRUMAN

Marlon Jay Truman is a contemporary multimedia painter. His work is informed and inspired by a diverse array of historical and modern influences, including Hans Holbein, Joan Mitchell, Caravaggio and Georgia O’Keefe, as well as Egyptian tomb portraits. 

Born and raised in Princeton, Truman majored in Art History at Rutgers, and worked for years with museums and art dealers in the New York area. In 2007 he left it all behind, and moved to Santa Fe to co-found and run a classical painting and drawing atelier. Seven years in the deserts of the South West had a transformative effect on Truman and his art, inspiring in him a more liberal use of colour, and in particular a sensitivity to temperature. However, creative differences prompted the end of the atelier, and three years later Truman moved to Lisbon where he has been living since.

Truman’s route to contemporary painting through Art History and classical realism is evident both explicitly and in more subtle ways. His collection “Homages to Holbein” is based on the anamorphic skull in Holbein’s “The Ambassadors”, while many individual works contain suggestive motifs from historical art. While indebted to the rich history of realist art, he works in a contemporary way, using found imagery and objects, digital collages, projections, and high gloss varnish with joyful abandon.