Paul H. Tardie is a visual artist who has drawn inspiration from nature, both human and non-human. As a teenager in California and later Tennessee, Tardie gravitated to drawing and painting with little formal training outside of public school. In 2005, the artist fled Tennessee for the warmer climates of Louisiana and then Texas. Seasonal work in Montana introduced the artist to the beauty of landscapes which prominently became the subject of paintings from 2008 onward.
Returning to the city every autumn would inspire works that lampooned culture as Austin changed over time and living as a street artist selling stenciled t-shirts was no longer sustainable. In 2015, Tardie took printmaking courses at Austin Community College and found a knack for intaglio, block print, and lithography. Themes following this phase began to oscillate regularly between critique, humor, biophilia, and wildland-urban interface. Tardie’s education as a biology student has recently influenced their focus on organisms, environmentalism, and social realism.
In 2022, Tardie anonymously received the Best of Austin: Arts and Entertainment Wildcard award for the “You’re My Butthole” amendment to the “You’re My Better Half” mural. Other mural work of theirs in Austin includes the East Side Pies “Pizza Wizard”, collaboration at the
Graffiti Park at Castle Hill, and various pieces of street art. In 2018, Tardie self-published “Inside: Dissecting a County Jail” as well as collaborated on “Books Through Bars: Stories from the Prison Books Movement published in 2024.
“I have been going to Miller IDS for prints and scans of artwork for almost 10 years. The amount of care that is given to each piece by them is equal to that which I put into my own work. Dana’s attention to detail has provided prints that I couldn’t discern from the original if it weren’t for the fact that they’re on different surfaces. The quality of the materials along with the turnaround in service allows me to operate an online store with high customer satisfaction. Communication on timelines and how each art piece was managed always give me a sense of my work being in not just the right hands but the best, especially as everyone there is so personable.”
Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.
