(s) Jay Tomioka

 Artist, Photographer, Digital Designer

I am an artist, photographer, printmaker and digital media content creator. The three primary factors that drive my work are: an insatiable curiosity, a continuing sense of wonder and an appreciation of beauty in the world around us, seen and unseen.  The images I create of  Mythology and narrative play an important role in my "Dreamscapes" which are sequences of digitally juxtaposed images.  One series of images I am working with is based upon the Japanese creation myth of Izanagi and Izanami. All of my images carry the seed of narrative with in them and often have an overt storytelling component.  It is my belief that narrative provides the context for meaning to take root.  In the absence of a stated narrative, the viewer will insert his or her own assumed narrative based on their own context.  In open ended imagery the afore mentioned tendency is ideal; however, some images require a more directed contextual approach to deliver a more specific message.  I try to accomplish this in an entertaining rather than didactic manner. I believe that art in general and photographs in particular should inspire us with beauty, show us something we have not seen before and inform us about something we do not know.    

 I was born in 1974, in West Palm Beach, Florida (USA) to a Japanese father and an American mother who were both world traveling peace activists during the 1960's. Growing and also as an adult, I have always been moving from place to place and consider myself to be a citizen of the WORLD.  Culturally I have one foot in the US and one in Japan, one hand on my passport and the other pointing to the horizon.  I do not believe in borders, boundaries, nationalism or religious strictures.  I believe in people, diversity, points of view, educational and traditional lineage's of thought, unique regional perceptions, cultural dialogue, philosophy and mythologies.  I believe that each person and each culture contains the duality of both uniqueness and universality.  In 2005 I received a Master of Fine Art in the areas of Digital Printmaking and Photography from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.