bama ink art

Bama Art (Artist)

A lot of people ask Bama Schultze where she got her name Bama, and art name Bama Art. They ask “are you from Alabama?” She explains her name Bama comes from a role Partricia Arquette played in the Quentin Tarantino movie True Romance,  Alabama Worly. She also has a striking resemblance to the actress so “the nickname stuck” she says.

Bama Schultze’s overall style is reminiscent of contemporary abstract expressionism, with a focus on brush line work with india black ink and color through spray paint and acrylics to convey a sense of nature and movement. What sets her art apart from others is what she calls “Ink in Nature”. Think of the way ink bleeds and reacts when it’s allowed to move across paper and canvas. It’s similar to the flow patterns in the ocean and sands helping reinforce an organic, fluid, dynamic energy. The combination of ink’s rich spontaneous flow and abstract forms can really convey a lot of emotion and rhythm. 

“It always amazes me to try to see what people see in my abstract art! Like a Rorschach Test, people are able to see different things created from their own mind.” Bama doesn’t always sign her artwork on a corner, giving the new owner a chance to turn the art to see 4 different variations of the same piece. She also adds that she remembers each unique person who has purchased a piece from her. She loves the feeling of being connected.

Bama moved to Pacific Beach in 2001, but didn’t start her art career until after she left San Diego and returned in 2013. She met some local artists at the beach who helped her get involved with some gallery shows, and curators who put on group art shows at local businesses and venues. Bama has lived and worked as an artist in Pacific Beach for over 10 years, selling over 60 pieces and presently displaying her art at Distinction Gallery, in their Divergence Art Collective and ArtHatch Studios. She shares “I’m humbled to be among such an amazing group of people and artists. I’m also very proud to be able to display art at my studio inside the PB Water Store.”