About the Artist
I was a born into, and politicised by, the post-war post-fascism era of Nazi Germany. My artwork is activist in that it juxtaposes and explores the personal, political, social and natural through sharp contrast, reflective surfaces, de/reconstruction, disjuncture and surprise. Juxtaposition as conscientisation is central to my work. I routinely combine art media to unsettle assumed, invisible and hidden relationships. For example: rusted metal with cuneiform script, the ravishes of bushfire with printed silk, part of the Human Rights Convention translated into Tifinagh, and the use the Berber symbol for a ’Free People’ in the Northern Sahara. I cut things up and reconsider their form through reconstructed media and imagery.
I have two broad approaches to my work. One approach is ‘incidental’, accidental and temporal. I travel frequently to deserts in Australia and internationally where I work with materials I find locally, use and explore a wide range of art media, take photographs of the artworks, then leave them behind. In this way I aim to contribute to the local context and community. My media is often de-reconstructed timber pallets, rolls of canvas, found plastic bottles, local languages, and the accidental happenstance of the locale I have chosen. For example, emus wandering into the background of an installation that is being represented through photography, or wild wind changing the form of an installation in the desert.
My second approach is studio-based. I work with canvas, photographic paper, fabric, wire, plastic rods and metal, and construct installations, collages, and photographic and melded works both manually and digitally. Many of these works are tactile and enduring. Overall I aspire to being versatile in my use of media and communicative in my practice.
Regine Wagner
Contact
Personal Details
1952 Born in Germany,
1981 Migrated to Australia
1991 PhD Adult Education University of Technology Berlin Germany
2018 Diploma of Visual Arts, TAFE NSW
Professional Experience
2010- Developing own Arts Practice/Studio
2007-2010 Associate Professor, Director of Higher Education, RMIT University
1992 – 2007 Academic in various roles University of Western Sydney, including Director
Of Centre for Learning and Social Transformation
1982 – 1992 Community/Adult Educator
Solo/ Duo Exhibitions
2015 Fanning the Flames, Braemar Gallery, Springwood, NSW
2012 Disorderly Exits, Braemar Gallery, Springwood, NSW with Fran Hayes
My work was included in the following exhibitions:
2022 bentArt, Katoomba
2022 Shelter, Rex Livingston Gallery Katoomba
2019 Desert Equinox, Broken Hill
2019 Art is the Reason, BMCAN, Gallery One88 Katoomba,
2018 Springwwood Art Show, Springwood NSW
2018 bentArt Wentworth Falls NSW
2017 bentArt Wentworth Falls, NSW
2016 bentArt, Wentworth Falls, NSW
2014 Five by Four, Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong, Vic
2011 Arts Auction Flood Appeal, Vic
2009 bentArt Katoomba NSW
2008 bentArt Katoomba NSW
Awards/Prizes
2017 bentArt: World War III: Highly commended
2016 bentArt : Totem poles, Winner Sculpture and Alternative Media
Artist in Residence
2017, Cafe Tissardmine , Tissardmine, Morocco
2017, The Fish Factory, Stödvardfjördur, Iceland
2015, Cafe Tissardmine , Tissardmine, Morocco
2013, Kalle Svensson Studio, Majenfors , Sweden
2011, Atiu Fibre Arts, Atiu, Cook Islands
Private Collections
My work is held in private collections in
Australia, Cook Islands, Germany, Iceland, Morocco, Sweden.