Stuart Wagner

ARTIST STATEMENT

If I could draw, I’d be a cartoonist. Instead, I use more dimensional materials. Because the components are so critical to the content of my art, I have developed a broad palette which includes fiber, steel, ceramics, wood, precious metals, recycled materials and both conventional and digital photography.

My art is conceptual in that I construct visual representations of thoughts, memories and ideas. These, in turn, derive added meaning from the materials and construction techniques I use. My work is rarely personal in the sense of being introspective, but it is subjective, nearly always evincing a strong point of view. In rare fits of sanctimony, in a quixotic delusion, I point a spear at some imagined or real injustice. During those times–when I realize that I’ve crossed the line from art to therapy–I hurry back to satire. Actually, humor and irony underlie the vast majority of my work. If my art simply makes someone smile – even if they do not go deeper into the underlying motivation for creating the piece – I feel that I have accomplished my purpose. As I said, if I could draw I’d be a cartoonist.

Stuart Wagner, a native of Connecticut, has lived in the Bay Area for all but six years since 1964. He served in the Marine Corps after high school and completed his undergraduate work at The University of Connecticut and his graduate studies at Stanford. His Ph.D. dissertation research took him to Bogotá, Colombia where he lived for a year. Stuart taught Latin American history at the University of Minnesota for five years. He returned to the Bay Area in 1974 to begin an electronics business, which he administered until 1989, when he retired. Stuart became an art student in 1992. He considers himself primarily a 3 dimensional artist who works with a wide variety of materials from steel to digital images.

Artist Website

Graham Life is so precious. Through my art, I hope to convey my deep appreciation for the “life force” and I invite the viewer to share in the wonder I experience as an artist and protector of life in all forms. That “quickening,” that “life force” is a constant energy that surges through my veins and sparks my creativity. I am a creative; an artist, a dancer, a mother. I make art because I must. An interesting concept, an unusual form, or a sudden vision can steal me from my duties or awaken me from my dreams. My interests in preserving the environment and promoting social justice frequently drive the message of my artwork. My pieces often begin with a visceral response to an act of injustice or the destruction of our natural world and explode into social commentary. In the mid 1980’s, I passionately explored the ancient Japanese tradition of handmade paper. I was attracted to the use of natural fibers, water, and elements that promote fibrous interaction to ultimately produce a thing of beauty. Ten years later, I embraced the challenge of creating beauty and complexity from other materials that were raw and simple. This inspired me to explore a variety of media from transformed fabric and knotless netting, to repurposed, reclaimed, and reimagined materials. Then in 2009, life changes propelled me to become passionate about felting wool. As in making paper, felting wool transforms natural fibers through the use of water and fibrous interaction. By employing wet and dry techniques, laminating gauzy silks to the wool fibers, inlaying embellishments, and blending colored fleece, I create painterly fabrics, unique wall art, and exciting three-dimensional forms. As an Obstetrical nurse for four decades, I was entrusted with guiding women in the most awe-inspiring form of creation. Similar to assisiting the labor process, felting requires strength, calculation, patience, and a sensitive connection to the subtle transformation of the material. The fact that I am passionately attracted to the tactile, rhythmic, spiritual, water-dependent nature of my professions as a nurse and as an artist does not escape me.

Stuart Wagner

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