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TARIQA WATERS

One of Seattle Magazine's most influential artists, born in Richmond Virginia, Tariqa Waters innovative practice masterfully commands space through her use of mixed-media tableaus, paintings, photographs, film and whimsical immersive installations. Her technicolor characterizations of multigenerational commercial references reclaim a sincere aesthetic steeped in effortless regality and proudly celebrated traditions. Waters’ work has exhibited in numerous galleries and featured in Rolling Stone France and Madame Figaro magazines. Solo exhibitions of her work have been organized at The Hedreen Gallery, [2014]; Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, WA (2016); and her 5 part glass immersive installation at The Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA [2023]. Waters has been awarded multiple prizes and grants, including the 2016 Conductive-Garboil Grant. The Artist-Trust- Fellowship Award [2018]; The Seattle Art Museum’s Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award [2020]; The Gary Glant Special Recognition Award [2021]; The Neddy at Cornish Open Medium Award [2020]; Arts Innovative Award [2023]; and The Betty Bowen Award [2023].

gum baby

4th
sUNDAY

Julia
 

Over the years, the art of storytelling has served as a resourceful tool within the evolution of my work. When I sit and think about my journey as a Black woman and mother in an inequitable art market, I often find myself developing innovative ways to lampoon and defy generalizations that doubt my capabilities. Whether sustaining a decade-long, renowned, conceptual brick & mortar community-based art installation called, Martyr Sauce or shapeshifting said brick & mortar into a television show called, Thank You, MS PAM on The Seattle Channel celebrating artists, creatives, and small businesses around the PNW, or evolving my preferred medium from oil painting to motorized large-scale immersive fabrications and blown glass, I’ve never shied away from taking risks. Humor, satire and spectacle are prevalent in most of my works, but I always aspire for the work to resonate as very personal and sincere; Made evident as the first artist ever commissioned in historic Pioneer Square to design a crosswalk, in which I reimagined the traditional white lines and replaced them with vibrant, colorful afro picks, bringing a tangible sense of inclusion and community to the neighborhood. In my self-portrait work, the women and men from my upbringing are lauded as muses blurring the line between feminine and masculine. To underscore their stories and elevate them out of the margins, I’ve excelled in genre-bending traditional pop aesthetics within photography, film, three-dimensional installations, and large-scale fabrications that I construct by hand; The anachronisms in these candy-colored tableaus showcase stand alone pieces in an attempt to subvert the ubiquitous co-option of my culture, redefine consumerism, and expose the sticky contradictions and dualities inherent in vices rooted in Americana-distorted memories and tall tales.

bts
the making

NO

NO

NO by Tariqa Waters 2019 Mixed Media Installation

Quilted Northern

Quilted Northern

Quilted Northern, 2018, L96”xH96"xW48" mixed media installation- Bellevue Art Museum, Bellwether, 2018

What?! Bruh

What?! Bruh

What?! Bruh, 2021, 30"x40" mixed media installation, self portrait. Crowd Within: 2020 Neddy at Cornish Exhibition, Permanent collection of The Behnke Foundation

deadbeat

deadbeat

deadbeat, 2016, 48"x48" mixed media, self portrait. 100% Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch solo exhibition at The Northwest African American Museum, 2016

100%Kanekalon

100%Kanekalon

100%Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch - Northwest African American Museum 2016

Protection Order

Protection Order

Mix media self portrait - 100% Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch. Northwest African American Museum 2016

100%Kanekalon

100%Kanekalon

100%Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch - Northwest African American Museum 2016

Martyr Sauce Crosswalk

Martyr Sauce Crosswalk

Tariqa Water’s Martyr Sauce Crosswalk, Historic District Pioneer Square, Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Department of Transportation, 2022

Blow

Blow

Blow 2018 Splitting Image Seattle Art Museum Gallery 2018, CitizenM Hotel Permanent Collection 2020

Ride Sandy Ride 2018

Ride Sandy Ride 2018

Sale Price

Sale Price

Sale Price 2017 Splitting Image Seattle Art Museum Gallery 2018

For Harriet

For Harriet

For Harriet 2020 Graphic Mural Installation- The Paramount Theatre

Crowd Pleaser

Crowd Pleaser

Crowd Pleaser 2018 - Permanent Collection Commissioned by The Paramount Theatre 90th Celebration

That's All Folks

That's All Folks

That's All Folks 2018-Permanent Collection Commissioned by The Paramount Theatre 90th Celebration

Ball barrettes, Bonkers, & Bubblicious, oh my!

Ball barrettes, Bonkers, & Bubblicious, oh my!

Mixed media installation

Martyr Sauce x Spain

Martyr Sauce x Spain

Martyr Sauce- The Stranger

Martyr Sauce- The Stranger

The Stranger Cover Art: Print Edition for the week of Jan. 8 - 14, 2014 Vol. 23, No. 19 cover-400

How You See Me, How You Don't

How You See Me, How You Don't

The Stranger Cover Art: Print Edition for the week of Sep. 21 - 27, 2016 cover0921

White Noise

White Noise

Print Edition for the week of Jun. 17 - 23, 2015 cover-570

Martyr Sauce x Spain

Martyr Sauce x Spain

Public Display Inaugural Issue 11-24-2021

The Call Back

The Call Back

The Call Back 2020 Vinyl Text Mural Yellow No. 5 Exhibition- Bellevue Arts Museum


Selected WORKS

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