Tomie Arai is an Asian American artist based in New York. The media focus of her art practice is screen-printing; a process which allows her to apply illustrations to a range of surfaces in a complex manner. Arai creates layered assemblage, murals, sculptural objects, and installation environments. She pushes beyond trends of design and production that are synonymous with screen-printing by excavating culturally-laden topics, visually archiving oral histories, and employing marginal themes (as opposed to the mainstream and pop-art foils.)

As she began to learn what it would take to become a dedicated artist, Arai, “gravitated toward workspace programs, and groups of artists.” She learned the craft of printmaking at at Robert Blackburn‘s workshop, working alongside a range of artists from all over the world. This format of working and learning within artist-directed spaces continued in her practice as she spent time at The Basement Workshop, (founded by Faye Chiang on Elizabeth street in New York.) She currently is exhibiting work at The Center for Book Arts. Developing her practice in this pedagogical manner allowed her to hone her skill in her own time – particularly at first, as a single mother. Her modes of working came out of the direct experience and inspiration from the people surrounding her. This also provided the opportunity for her to establish her own approach, in contrast to others, that was not stereotypical, or edition-centric. Rather then methodical she uses her screens in a much more extemporaneous form once she builds up a library of symbols around any given project. EXPAND POST