TJ Mampalam

Artist Statement

I am a neurosurgeon in private practice in Berkeley and Oakland. I create figurative and abstract paintings that are informed by my knowledge of medical anatomy and neuroscience.

Images of my paintings have been published in literary and art journals including Penumbara: Literary and Art Journal (Vol 29, 2019), The Florida Review (Vol 44, 2020), and Door = Jar Literary Magazine (Vol 37, 2025).

My painting Lost Languages was exhibited in the 2025 word play exhibition at Arc Gallery.

A gallery comprising images of 22 of my paintings is available for viewing on artpal.com.

I submit images of 4 oil paintings created between 20024 and 20026 for the “memory, longing, remembering” exhibition. These are interrelated paintings that combine abstracted depictions of neuroanatomic structures and recollected memories to create a meditation on the sources of art within the brain and through memory. Images of Hippocampi and Drilling for Blood were previously published in Door = Jar Literary Magazine (Vol 37, 2025).

I also write poetry and these painting correspond to poems with the same titles that I have previously published in literary and medical humanities journals. The poem “Ventricles” was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 2017. “Drilling for Blood” was published in Neurology, 2018. “Hippocampi” was published in Cortland Review, 2019. “Basal Ganglia” was published in Ailment: chronicles of illness narratives, 2020. The corresponding art works may illustrate relationships of poetry to painting.