Gama

Childhood experiences shaped the artist's career

Gama was born in Mongolia and spent the first seven years of his life in the wild and untamed nature of the Central Asian steppe. During this time, his parents led a nomadic life, travelling with their animals across the vast grassy plains where there were no trees. In fact, Gama saw his first tree, a birch, when his parents gave up their wandering life and sent him to school. It was at this time that the boy, who had previously only lived in tents, stepped foot in his first permanent house built of stone. This experience impressed him so much that he later enjoyed painting interiors as an artist, just as the contrast between the unspoilt nature of his childhood and the architectural force of the modern metropolis was an attractive contrast that was often taken up in Gama's work. Another important influence from his childhood was the artist's aunt, who lived as a shaman between the physical and spiritual worlds and is said to have taught Gama the motif of transcendental movement. 

Enthusiasm for contemporary German painters

Even at school, Gama was considered a quiet outsider who was mainly interested in painting. He painted what he saw, and because he sat in the back row, it was mainly the backs of his classmates' heads. He painted them with such great attention to detail that they were recognisable at first glance. His obvious talent impressed his art teacher, who gave him good marks and encouraged him to study art. Gama actually managed to get one of only 12 places out of 20,000 applicants and studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing from 1996 to 2000. Afterwards, he was drawn to Germany because he greatly admired the art of Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz, and he chose to study in Karlsruhe because the rents there were the cheapest, earning his living there as a pot washer. Whilst at the Karlsruhe Academy, he was influenced by the teaching of Gustav Kluge, whose figurative painting centred on power, violence and existential questions of humanity.

Many sources of inspiration from Eastern and Western culture

Gama draws inspiration for his pictures from the cultures of the West and the East, from fairy tales, myths, spirituality and religion. Childhood memories of his time in the steppes and the shamanism still prevalent there as well as later experiences mingle to form a creative stream, which often give a hint of dark abysses in light colours. His love of the forests and his fascination for German Romanticism including artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Spitzweg, Moritz von Schwind and Franz von Lenbach, is reflected time and again in Gama's works. Each work begins as an idea in the artist's head, develops there over the course of one to two weeks and is then usually realised as a painting within three days.

Gama lives and works in Berlin.