Guilty Conscience
2023
Medium:
UV Cured Inkjet on Original Historic Intaglio Prints, Archival Shadow Box
Archival Black Walnut Shadow Box:
31” x 26.5” x 4”
Original Art:
15 Pieces (each orginal 1738 copperplate print is different) These limited edition prints have been produced with best archival practices using acid free papers, adhesives and framing procedures. The inks used in the printing process are considered archival and the plexiglass used in framing is also UV blocking to prevent pigment breakdown.
The 1739 Edition: Guilty Conscience juxtaposes 18th-century French intaglio etchings—originally printed by Rigaud et Baron—with bold, contemporary ultraviolet-cured typography to provoke a dialogue between history and modernity. These scenes of aristocratic leisure are disrupted by sharp, often unsettling text that reframes the imagery, exposing the moral contradictions, social hierarchies, and inherited biases embedded within. Inouye invites viewers to reflect on the continuity of power, privilege, and complicity across time, questioning the sanitized narratives that history often preserves.
In the spirit of artists like Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, Inouye uses language as a disruptive force—layering text over image to interrogate cultural norms and the mechanisms of influence. Guilty Conscience not only honors the technical precision of 18th-century printmaking but also reframes it for contemporary relevance. Each work becomes a site of confrontation, urging viewers to consider how the aesthetics of the past continue to inform the ideologies of the present.
