Josie Azuma

Josie Azuma is a classically trained painter plus self-taught abstract artist living in New Orleans, Louisiana, whose work has a strong focus on collage. She is inspired by the color spectrum of nature, light and darkness, the perfectly paired historical architecture of New Orleans against its tropical organic backdrop, music and lyrics, interior design, and life in general. Josie describes collaging as a way to "take control" of her art and she enjoys that the process allows her the ability to play around with composition before committing to a final piece. She finds the process of putting the pieces of a collage together meditative in a way.

Her work focuses on abstracting objects into their simplest shapes and color planes, often using color gradients to blend those shapes into a composition. This reflects her personal struggle to live a more simplified, present, and focused life. Josie's process is always searching for harmony and equilibrium without losing the creative edge that unexpected forms and colors can bring, a sense of spontaneity to break up her natural tendency towards perfection. Tensions create a subtle but rich balance between light and dark, masculine and feminine, geometric and organic.