Mark Wagner Gets Political With Currency Collages

We welcome in currency collage master Mark Wagner as he joins us for his debut RUN with two new editions For Sale By Voter and Empty Promises available for two weeks beginning January 6th – January 20th to coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration in the new year. We caught up with Wagner to talk about his first release and lots more, read on to find out more. . .

1x: Was this image part of a recent theme, series or show that you had? If so how did it fit into that given grouping?
Wagner: My work often has a covert political read. I had a show this fall which made it more obvious. “I’m Mark Wagner and I Approve This Message” ran at Pavel Zoubok Gallery in NYC a month before the presidential election. There were portraits of candidates in a mock voting booth, images of crowds cheering and crowds jeering, presidential podia, allegorical Americans, etc.

1x: When was it created and what materials were used to create this original piece?
Wagner: Only ever cash for me really… if it looks like money, it is money. There were two collages spliced together digitally to make this image “Caretakers, Executive” I made in 2015, and “For Sale Sign For Sale” was made in 2016.

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1x: Tell us how the idea and execution came about for this image?
Wagner: I made it almost as a lark to poke fun at the commercial aspects of the electoral process. It seemed like a stupid, campy image last summer when I had the idea. But now, on the eve of the inauguration, it seems ominous.

1x: How long does each piece take?
Wagner: The work is intricate, it takes a while. Small 4×6 inch collages might take a couple days to make. An 18×24 inch collage might take a couple weeks… maybe a month. Last year my assistant and I spent almost half a year making a ridiculous 8×6 foot monster-bear-King-Kong thing.

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1x: What is unique about this imagery compared with your other work?
Wagner: I usually don’t have anything to do with computer manipulation of imagery. And here too, really, it is only slight… mixing two collages together. But still, I like that this print is the only physical iteration of this image… its not just a reproduction of some original, but its own original.

1x: Why should people buy one of these prints?
Wagner: Until your escape tunnel is complete, you’ve got to conceal that hole in the wall with something.

1x: Describe this image in one gut reaction word.
Wagner: Dumbocracy.

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1x: When did you first start making art? What was your first piece?
Wagner: I’ve always made one thing or another. I don’t know when I would have started calling those things art. I’ve gone through phases of drawing and painting, spent a long time as a letterpress printer, bookbinder, and publisher of artist books. I started cutting up money in 1999. My first dollar bill collages were single bills cut into thin slices and shifted during gluing to look like they were floating, contorting, or photoshopped.

1x: What artists inspired you early on? What artists inspire you now?
Wagner: More “working artists” than “fine artists”… lots of Illustrators, graphic designers, people who made culture that got out into the world rather than hanging in a museum. Mostly “working artists” more than “fine artists”… lots of Illustrators, graphic designers, and the like… people who make culture that gets out into the world rather than hanging around in museums.

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1x: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what? If not then what is your environment like when you work?
Wagner: I listen to audio books and podcasts while I work. I couldn’t do the work I do without them… they curb the tedium and distract my conscious mind just enough to keep it out of the way.

1x: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be and why?
Wagner: I’d love to hook up with some smarty-pants writer to add words to more of the images. Some academic, or some lyricist, or some comic. Brad Neely maybe? Or Michael Moore?

1x: If you could collaborate with any deceased artists who would it be and why?
Wagner: What do you mean? I regularly collaborate with dead artists.

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1x: What was the first piece of art that you bought? Do you still have it? The last?
Wagner: A drawing by Phong Nguyen that’s like a notebook page with a bunch of related ideas being worked out as sketches. I do still have it. The last was a “family portrait” ear drawing by Scott Teplin.

1x: Any big shows or events coming up that you’d like to share?
Wagner: Folks are always asking if I’ve got any little, affordable collages. So, a couple months from now, I’m planning an online exhibition of small and medium sized botanical collages called “Spring Sale”.

1x: Where else can people find you?
Mark Wagner: WebsiteInstagram @markwagnerinc – Facebook

-1xRUN