“‘Future Imperfect Tense’ includes three artist books. True Means is an accordion fold structure using language and image to examine a world of war and shifting borders. While True Means is located on the ground, Nebulae is a series of prints transmuting images of exploding weaponry to appear as distant dying stars, one kind of matter into another. They Lay One Upon Another is a traditional book form focused on individual acts of mass violence most often with assault weapons. The book begins with a narrative fusing the variety of incidents, moves to a large set of abstractions derived from aerial imagery of multiple sites, and ends by collapsing the times of the attacks into a single day.”

Ann Tyler is a book artist whose work delves into the human capacity for violence, be it individual, communal, or state-sponsored. Her books span history, communities, and geography while engaging varied narrative strategies and formal approaches. Violence is depicted through abstract means as is life’s fragile beauty.

Ann’s work is included in numerous permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Gallery Library, London; the J. Paul Getty Museum Library, Los Angeles; the Library of Congress Special Collections, Washington, DC and many university library special collections in the United States. She is Professor Emeritus at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Currently, Ann and her partner divide their time between Dixon and Chicago.