Mark Van Wagner

Over the years, Mark Van Wagner has collected natural and pigmented sands from around the world, incorporating this substance into his layered-relief abstractions. In the exploration of applying mixed-media/assemblage into his artwork, he has recognized sand to be the most literal medium to capture material decomposition - its essence defining impermanence related to place and gross matter. Thick and thin spontaneous-gestural applications of glue adhesives and primers are sprinkled with innumerable sand particles and flotsam that simultaneously mimic a pointilist-pixelationist approach. The reassembling of sand back into subject 'matter' allows for playful micro and macro ocular excavations. His deconstructive paintings and sculptures poignantly remind us of life’s cycles and the bridge between man and nature.

Van Wagner received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studied Art History and Urban planning at Colorado College.
 He has since exhibited in and curated for numerous venues across the U.S. including, most recently the Long Island Biennial at the Heckscher Museum (Huntington, NY), 325 Project Space (Queens, NY), Marquee Projects (Bellport, NY), Providence Art Center (Providence, RI), and Nancy Lurie Gallery (Chicago, IL). His media coverage includes articles in Artnet.com, Artsy.net, Artdaily.org, HamptonsArtHub.com, The Long Island Advance, the Chicago Tribune, Boulder Daily Camera and NPR radio, among others. His work is included in many private and public collections nationally and internationally including the Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL), Capital One Corporate Collection (Melville, New York), and The Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York, NY). The artist currently lives and works on Long Island in the village of Bellport, NY.

Submitted by MARQUEE PROJECTS