Education | Courses Taught | Biography | Publications | Exhibitions | Reviews | Public Art | Awards | Catherine Wagner Website

Education

• MA, San Francisco State University
• BA, San Francisco State University

• ARTS 043/143: Contemporary Photographic Practice I
• ARTS 116: Contemporary Photographic Concerns II
• ARTS 156: Contemporary Photographic Concerns III
• ARTS 158: Photography Seminar
• ARTS 189/IART 191: Senior Seminar: Studio Art
• ARTS 195: Independent Study
• ARTS 201: Studio Art Concentrations (Photography)
• ARTS 205: Graduate Studio Concentrations
• ARTS 291: Graduate Seminar
• ARTS 293: Graduate Degree Exhibition and Artist Statement

Biography

Catherine Wagner is an artist who works with elements of contemporary society and transforms them into conceptual images that investigate culture. For over thirty years she has been a keen observer of the built environment, examining institutions of learning and knowledge, such as art museums and science labs, as well as the ways we construct our cultural identity. Ms. Wagner’s process involves the investigation of what art critic David Bonetti calls "the systems people create, our love of order, our ambition to shape the world, the value we place on knowledge, and the tokens we display to express ourselves."

While Ms. Wagner has spent her life residing in California, she has also been an active international artist, working on collaborations, site-specific installations, and lecturing extensively at museums and universities. She has received many major awards, including the inaugural Visual Arts Fellowship from the San Jose Museum of Art, a Guggenheim Fellowship, NEA Fellowships, an award from Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue, and the Ferguson Award. Ms. Wagner was also named one of Time Magazine’s Fine Arts Innovators of the Year for 2001.

In addition to her studio work, Ms. Wagner has also created large-scale site-specific public art pieces for the City of San Francisco, the UCSF Medical School, and most recently for the City of Los Angeles. She is currently working on other projects for the City of Santa Monica, the City of San Jose, Millennium Partners, and BRIDGE Housing. Her public artworks combine the theoretical rigor of her photographic works with an awareness of the specifics and history of each site.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Folkswang, Essen, Germany, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Her monographs include Cross Sections (Twin Palms Press 2002), Art & Science: Investigating Matter (Washington University, 1996), Home and Other Stories (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993), and American Classroom (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1988). Ms.Wagner is represented by Gallery Luisotti in Santa Monica, California and the Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco.

For more information and images, please visit http://www.catherinewagner.org/.

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2005, Re-Classifying History: Catherine Wagner, de Young Museum (museum brochure)

2004, Trilogy: Reflections on Frankenstein, the Arctic Circle, and the History of Science, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog)

2001, Catherine Wagner: Cross Sections. (Twin Palms Publishers)

1996, Art and Science: Investigating Matter, (Washington University)

1993, Home and Other Stories, Photographs by Catherine Wagner.(Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

1990, Changing Places: Photographs by Catherine Wagner. Houston: Farish Gallery, Rice University

1988, American Classroom, (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)

1987, Catherine Wagner, 1976-1986 (monograph), Min Gallery, (Tokyo, Japan)

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One Person Exhibitions

2011, Reparations, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA

2010, Reparations, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2010, Morphology, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA

2010, Reparations, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2010, Morphology, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008, A Narrative History of the Light Bulb, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA

2007, A Narrative History of the Light Bulb, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006, Re-Classifying History, 101 California Street Lobby, San Francisco, CA

2005, Re-Classifying History, de Young Museum (inaugural), San Francisco, CA

2005, Catherine Wagner: Early Works 1975-1981, California Landscapes and Moscone Site, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA

2004, Trilogy: Reflections on Frankenstein, the Arctic Circle, and the History of Science, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2003, Cross Sections: Catherine Wagner, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA

2002, 12 Areas of Concern and Crisis, Installation at Comme des Garcons, Kyoto, Japan

2001, Cross Sections: Catherine Wagner, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2001, Catherine Wagner: Selections 1980-2000, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000, Realism and Illusion: Catherine Wagner Photographs the Disney Theme Parks, Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO

1999, Realism and Illusion: Catherine Wagner Photographs the Disney Theme Parks, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX; Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA

1999, Art & Science: Investigating Matter, Photographs by Catherine Wagner, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA

1999, Catherine Wagner, Selections 1978-1998, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY

1997, Catherine Wagner: Art & Science, Investigating Matter, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA; Gallery Luisotti, Los Angeles CA; International Center of Photography, New York, NY; Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1997, Realism and Illusion: Catherine Wagner Photographs the Disney Theme Parks, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada; Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN; Armand Hammer, Los Angeles, CA

1997, Catherine Wagner Photographs: Investigating Matter, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

1997, Art & Science: Investigating Matter and American Classroom, Johnson County Community College, Kansas City, MO

1994, American Classroom,; Museum fur Moderne Kunst, at Amerika House, Frankfurt, Germany (Netwerk Kulture catalog) Home and Other Stories, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ<

1993, Home and Other Stories, Mills College, Oakland, CA; Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA(catalog)

1993, American Classroom: Photographs by Catherine Wagner, University Gallery, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA

1991, American Classrooms: The Photographs of Catherine Wagner, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

1991, Catherine Wagner, Selections, Turner/Krull Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1990, American Classroom: The Photographs of Catherine Wagner, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, NY

1989, American Classroom: The Photographs of Catherine Wagner, The Ansel Adams Center, San Francisco, CA

1989, Photographs 1978-1988, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1988, Catherine Wagner: Photographs from the American Classroom and the George Moscone Site, The Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College, Chicago, IL

1988, Changing Places, Photographs by Catherine Wagner, Farish School of Architecture, Rice University, Houston, TX (catalog)

1988, American Classroom, The Photographs of Catherine Wagner, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (publication)

1987, Catherine Wagner, 1976-1986, Min Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (catalog)

1985, Oakland Museum, Oakes Gallery, Oakland, CA (brochure)

Group Exhibitions

2011, The Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment, The Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV

2011, Polaroid [Im]possible, WestLicht, Museum of Photography, Vienna, Austria

2011, HERE, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA

2010, Know the Rules – Then Break Them, di Rosa, Napa, CA

2010, State of Mind: A California Invitational, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA

2010, The Gallery of California Art, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA

2010, Masterworks of American Photography: Popular Culture, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX

2010, Real and HyperReal, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2010, The View From Here, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA

2009, 75 Years of Looking Forward: The Anniversary Show, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA

2009, An Autobiography of the San Francisco Bay Area Part One: San Francisco Plays Itself, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

2008, Selections from the Collection, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA

2008, New Work: Photography and Sculpture, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007, CCA Alumni & Faculty Show, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007, Home Sweet Home, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

2007, Rembrandt to Thiebaud: A Decade of Collecting Works on Paper, The Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, CA (catalog)

2007, Bios 4, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC ), Seville, Spain

2005, AxS: At the Intersection of Art and Science, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

2004, Kurzdavordanach, SK Stiftungkultur, Koln, Germany

2003, How Human: Life in the Post-Genome Era, International Center of Photography, NY, NY

2003, Public Record, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

2003, Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA

2002, Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2001 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2001, Architecture in Photography, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

2000, Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

1999, Museum Pieces: Bay Area Artists Envisioning the de Young, de Young Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA (brochure)

1999, Bay Area Now, II, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA (catalog)

1998, American Vernacular, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

1997, Absolute Landscape: Between Illusion and Reality, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan (catalog)

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Collections (Partial Listing)

de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Whitney Museum of Art, NY

Reviews (Partial Listing)

2011, Artillery Magazine, Scarlet Cheng, “Catherine Wagner, May/June.

2011, Art News, Lea Feinstein, “Catherine Wagner,” April.

2010, The Huffington Post, “Catherine Wagner’s `Reparations` at Stephen Wirtz Gallery.” Dec.

2010, Art Ltd. Magazine, Hearne Pardee, “Catherine Wagner: “Morphology” at Steven [sic] Wirtz Gallery.” March.

2009, Los Angeles Times: Culture Monster blog. Yvonne Villarreal, “Artistic visions for LAPD’s new headquarters.” Oct 21st.

2008, San Francisco Chronicle, Kenneth Baker, “Artworks that make a lasting impression: Wagner’s ‘Reparations’,” August 9th.

2008, Los Angeles Times. Pauline O’Connor, “At these exhibitions, everything is illuminated.” April 24th.

2007, San Francisco Chronicle. Kenneth Baker, “Everything is illuminated in show of lights,” April 7th.

2004, ArtForum.com, Glen Helfand, “Critics Picks, Catherine Wagner,” April 2004.

2004, San Francisco Chronicle/Datebook, Kenneth Baker “Art Grapples with Science and Politics,” March 27th.

2003, Los Angeles Times Calendar, Scarlett Cheng “Catherine Wagner: Cross Sections,” Sunday, March 9, 2003.

2002, New York Times Science, “Inside, Up Close: Medical Scans as Art,” Tuesday, July 2.

2002, Art in America, “Report from San Francisco,” November, p. 69.

2002, San Francisco Chronicle/Datebook, David Bonetti “The Best of 2001,” December 31.

2001, TIME Magazine, James Poniewozik “Innovators: The Next Wave,” October 15.

2001, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, David Bonetti “Bay City Best: Art,” April 8.

2001, The San Francisco Chronicle, David Bonetti “Humans Absent from, but Central to, Wagner Photos,” March 29.

Public Art

In process, Atmospheric Flurry (working title), Mercer West Corridor Project, Seattle, WA

In process, Arc Cycle (working title), Moscone Central Subway Station, San Francisco, CA

In process, Global Garden, 474 Natoma, BRIDGE Housing, San Francisco, CA

In process, Wave Echo, The Village, Santa Monica, Santa Monica, CA

2011, Vitreous Bench, 301 Mission Millennium Tower, Millennium Partners, San Francisco, CA

2011, Nature/Knowledge, Education Park Branch Library, The City of San Jose, San Jose, CA

2009, Ghost Grove, Ronald F. Deaton Civic Auditorium, The Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA

2008, Swimmers’ Waves, Sava Pool, San Francisco Public Art Commission, San Francisco, CA

2004, Flux Density, Frisson Restaurant, San Francisco, CA

2003, Cell Wall II, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA

2002, Comme des Garçons, Kyoto Japan

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2007, Artadia: The Fund for Art & Dialogue Award

2007-2009, California Academy of Sciences, Artist-in-Residence, San Francisco, CA

2002, Joan and Robert Danforth Distinguished Professorship in the Arts, Mills College, Oakland, CA

1998, Visual Arts Fellowship, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel

1997, San Jose Museum of Art, Visual Arts Fellowship, San Jose, CA

1990-1991, 1981, National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Artist Fellowship in Photography

1987, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship

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