Tiger Archive

Tiger Archive began in 2021 as a conversation in painting with artist Tony Ingrisano. Our instagram page @tigerarchive documents over 200 drawings and paintings of tigers, inspired by materiality, art history, our cats, and each other. The project culminated in a physical exhibit at Waterloo Arts from May 6th to June 18th, 2022, titled Tiger, Tiger: A Tiger Archive Project.

Exhibit Statement

“For the past year, visual artists Jace Lee and Tony Ingrisano have been in dialogue via spontaneous, inky depictions of tigers. The exchange began in March 2021 when Ingrisano felt inspired by a set of tigers Lee was painting in her studio. Ingrisano responded by gifting Lee a few drawings of tigers he had made, to which Lee then responded with another set of tigers. The two maintained this call-and-response style of exchange alongside their individual practices, crediting the project as a valuable exercise in “material, playfulness, serendipity, and most importantly, finding freedom and joy in the studio.”

Until now, many of the tigers have only been shared digitally on the project’s Instagram page, @tigerarchive. Colorful striped cats showing teeth, showing pain, showing silliness and contentment, contorting their limbs, and wriggling in paint vibrate the feed, exploring states of being through form and color. The number of tigers has well surpassed one hundred, yet Lee and Ingrisano remain crafty and uninhibited in their exchange.

As the two continue to find new leads in old compositions and to interpret heady, worldly concepts in the language of stripes, teeth, whiskers, paws, and fur, the exhibition Tiger, Tiger will serve as the first physical, immersive document of their yearlong conversation in paint and ink.“ — Kayli Salzano, Gallery Manager at Waterloo Arts