Genesis Tramaine
In conversation with David Alan Grier
"I think it’s important that you paint a real narrative, an honest reflection. I don’t think [my saints] look like saints as they have been given to us...[those] were false narratives."
— Genesis Tramaine
Almine Rech, Monacelli and Phaidon are pleased to announce the launch of Genesis Tramaine's new monograph, Gimme Some Sugar. To mark the occasion, Genesis Tramaine was joined by actor David Alan Grier for a talk on May 6, 2025, at the iconic WSA building in New York. The conversation unpacked the artist's dynamic and enthralling paintings, which serve as an inextricable homage to her deep faith, sense of self, and memories of Sunday mornings at church. Tramaine’s much-anticipated first monograph presents over 125 vibrant, full-color images of the artist’s dynamic portrait paintings which are rooted in her 1980s New York City upbringing and strong spirituality.
Tramaine paints with a confrontational and provocative use of color and through an urban-inspired, mixed-media approach. The artist describes her practice as focused on the shape and definition of the American Black Face, explaining that her subject’s exaggerated features capture the spirited emotions of the untapped, underrepresented soul of Black people through a mixture of acrylic and oil-based paintings.
Tramaine’s work is also powerfully influenced by Bible verses and other readings she studied in church. Her spiritual influences have a strong impact on the composition and depth of her paintings, which explore deeply human themes including ethics and insanity, the mundane and the inhumane, spirituality, sexuality, and sentimentality.
