Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8

Tony Dagradi
Encyclopedia of Toys

2018

$3,600
£2,764.65
€3,168.25
CA$5,067.91
A$5,677.18
CHF 2,958.33
MX$69,249.88
NOK 37,593.57
SEK 35,448.06
DKK 23,646.95

About the Item

Medium: hardcover book, acrylic varnish [New Orleans, LA ::: b. 1952 - Queens, NY] 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 celebrated artists. He is most well-known for his work with Astral Project, an adventurous quartet of top New Orleans players dedicated to playing cutting-edge improvisational music. His performing past also includes five years as a member of the internationally acclaimed Carla Bley and appearances and recordings with Bobby McFerrin, Mose Allison, and Nat Adderley. Since 2015, Tony has been exploring the visual possibilities of altered books. Choosing vintage and antiquarian texts, he carefully cuts through one page at a time utilizing existing images to create a three-dimensional collage or sculpture. The results allow the contents and imagery of long outdated material to be viewed in a manner that is both exciting and thought-provoking. STATEMENT My decades-long career in contemporary jazz directly informs my work as a visual artist. Music, for me, has always had a visual component, with the diverse elements of music suggesting colors, shapes, and textures. The juxtaposition of abstract shapes which come together as I work on a book, is very much how I perceive the interplay of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Improvisation is also key to my approach in both genres. Within a jazz ensemble, each player is responsible for an individual part which must support and inspire the other musicians. In the heat of the moment, unexpected phrases or motivic ideas can affect surprising new directions for the collective ensemble. Similarly, the tension and harmony which naturally occur as I uncover each new image unfailingly impacts the whole and often shifts the form and concept of the emerging composition. Cutting through each book page by page to expose selected subject matter is primarily a subtractive process. However, I often choose to reserve certain images for later use. This too is comparable to the open-ended conversation on the bandstand and provides me with control over the development of each piece. I prefer working with vintage books and encyclopedias. The eclectic photos and illustrations represent material that is long out of date yet offer a fascinating window into our past. Ultimately, I hope to provide a perspective on the transitory nature of what earlier generations understood to be factual and offer insight into the way ever-evolving media has shaped contemporary perspectives.
  • Creator:
  • Creation Year:
    2018
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU10523686222

More From This Seller

View All
Exploration
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
medium: hardcover book, acrylic varnish My decades-long career in contemporary jazz directly informs my work as a visual artist.  Music, for me, has always had a visual component, with the diverse elements of music suggesting colors, shapes, and textures.  The juxtaposition of abstract shapes which come together as I work on a book, is very much how I perceive the interplay of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Improvisation is also key to my approach in both genres.  Within a jazz ensemble...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Varnish

Speculation
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
medium: hardcover book, acrylic varnish My decades-long career in contemporary jazz directly informs my work as a visual artist.  Music, for me, has always had a visual component, w...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Varnish

Signs
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
My decades-long career in contemporary jazz directly informs my work as a visual artist. For me, music has always had a visual component, with the diverse elements of music suggesti...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Varnish

The Wild Ones
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
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 ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Varnish

Number Please...
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
Medium: hardcover book, acrylic varnish BIO: [New Orleans, LA ::: b. 1952 - Queens, NY] TONY DAGRADI is an internationally recognized jazz performer, artist, composer, author and...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Diffusion
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
materials: hardcover book, acrylic varnish; New Masters Pictorial Encyclopedia 1962 volumes 1-8 (complete set) --- TONY DAGRADI is an internationally recognized jazz performer, art...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Wood, Paper, Varnish, Acrylic

You May Also Like

A Facsimile of What We Imagined
Located in New York, NY
Gale’s intricate assemblages comprised of found objects create rich and surreal environments. She collects whimsical items and re-contextualizes them in her art, where the final stru...
Category

2010s Assemblage Mixed Media

Materials

Metal, Wire

Untitled (Collage, mixed media)
By Benjamin Spark
Located in Oostende, BE
Benjamin SPaRK is a Franco-Belgian artist born in 1969, who lives and works in Brussels. The painting was made as a gift for a friend, as it says on the back 'to my friend Alick'
Category

20th Century Modern Mixed Media

Materials

Canvas

MAQUETTE FOR BOXED IN
By Valerie B Hird
Located in New York, NY
VALERIE HIRD MAQUETTE FOR BOXED IN, 2019 paper, watercolor, ink pencil, wood, nails, foam core, PVA glue 17 x 9 x 2 1/2 in. 43.2 x 22.9 x 6.4 cm.
Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Wood, Paper, Glue, Ink, Watercolor

Collage
Located in Austin, TX
Collage Artist: Gavin Sewell Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas Size:
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media

Here It Is
By Greg Miller
Located in Santa Monica, CA
(This piece is on two panels) Contextually within the framework of postmodern Neo-pop and Post-pop, Miller utilizes a semiotic process of mining familiar pictorial codes from the pop...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Canvas, Paper, Acrylic

La Bestia's Guide to the Birth of the Cool
By Enrique Chagoya
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph with chine collé and gold powder, Edition 30 Enrique Chagoya's print "La Bestia’s Guide to the Birth of the Cool", is the twelft...
Category

1990s Contemporary More Prints

Materials

Lithograph