Amy Inouye

Tactical Mama-san (Taking Care of Business)

2016

Fabric collage

Acrylic 8 x 8 in.

Medium: hardcover book, acrylic varnish BIO TONY DAGRADI is an internationally recognized jazz performer, artist, composer, author and educator. For over three decades he has made his home in New Orleans, performing on tenor and soprano saxophone with many of the Crescent City's most celebrated artists, including Ellis Marsalis, Allen Toussaint...

I am a multi-disciplinary artist who has professionally shown my work in dozens of galleries and museums since the late 1990s. But while my work can take many different forms, my practice is rooted in drawing. Whether I am working on the watercolor and acrylic pieces, or fiber-based pieces, every project and every idea begins with a drawing. Through that process I lay out my ideas, ask myself questions, experiment with different options, and try to resolve all the formal and conceptual issues I will attempt in my final piece. The themes I have explored in my work from 1999 on, and even before then, have remained the same even though my style has shifted radically. I have been interested in exploring self-portraiture, personal narratives, femininity, politics, and the use of text in art. I have remained constant in my exploration of critical theory and art history, and drawn influence from artists as diverse as Joseph Beuys, Henry Darger, and Adrian Piper...