Dan Tague
B. 1974
American
Artist Dan Tague spent time atop a roof for seven days following Hurricane Katrina, waiting to be rescued from the devastating floodwaters below. The slow response from the U.S. government to aid victims both during and after the hurricane outraged Tague. The hypocrisy of capitalism and the irony that a wealthy country could not swiftly and adequately help its own citizens spurned Tague’s ongoing folded bill series. He began to carefully but precisely fold paper currency into clever messages that often reflected protest and political commentary, like Fight the Power and The Osama Wars. Tague states that his recent bill work reflects positive and uplifting messages, like the piece, The Pursuit of Happiness, featured in Cultural Currency. To Tague, art can be both challenging and hopeful in times of uncertainty.
Tague uses all denominations of U.S. currency, however, he finds most messages in a one-dollar bill, followed by a five and twenty. The discovery process begins with the money in his wallet or pocket, and he searches the bill to determine if a message is possible. Once the origami is underway, Tague revisits the bill over several days, allowing the crisp folds to gradually loosen and make any final changes to the folds before flattening the bill under heavy books over several days. Folded anywhere from 30 to 200 times without destroying the paper and without cuts or glue, the folds carry a loaded message in a neatly packaged composition.
Tague’s work appears in numerous public and private collections, including The Whitney Museum of Art and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation. He has received several awards from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, and other organizations. Tague was also awarded an artist residency at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York, the KALA Institute in Berkeley, CA, and the La Napoule Art Foundation in southern France. He holds an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of New Orleans, where he still lives and works.
