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Tony Dagradi
Typo

2025

$3,600
£2,748.50
€3,148
CA$5,043.58
A$5,639.34
CHF 2,958.07
MX$68,305.99
NOK 37,339.83
SEK 35,277.12
DKK 23,496.69

About the Item

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 The results allow the contents and imagery of long outdated material to be viewed in a manner that is both exciting and thought-provoking. The artist says of his artwork... 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 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. I also feel very strongly that the mathematics and spirituality of music intersect all art forms. My process in creating sculptural effects with books is continually evolving. When I first began, I sealed the edges of each book and cut through one page at a time, making choices on the fly as to what images I chose to keep. As my technical skills progressed and I gained more confidence and experience, I found this to be a somewhat limiting approach. I wanted more flexibility. In my current preferred method, I harvest the images I am most interested in then add them back one at a time as the composition emerges. I still cut away one page at a time, and always work from front to back. In this way, I have greater control over the placement of each object as well as the direction of the entire composition. I enjoy working with many types of books; graphic novels, atlases, scientific texts, technical manuals, etc. Each represents a different and unique challenge. I especially relish working with vintage books and encyclopedias. The eclectic photos and illustrations often represent material that is long out of date yet offer a fascinating window into our past. At the same time, the quality and condition of the paper itself often extend their own unique challenge. 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.

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Excerpts
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 Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Paper, Varnish, Found Objects

Teddy
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 Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paper, Varnish, Found Objects

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

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

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

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

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