bio

biography

My name is Lee Wagstaff I was born in 1969 in London, I am an English artist living in Berlin.

I studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art in London and Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. I have exhibited my body, large format photographic self-portraits and graphite works at art and performance venues worldwide. One performance was featured in the Ornament Und Abstraction show at the Beyeler Foundation, Basel, Switzerland and I was the first Western artist to be featured in the Art Annual, Kobe, Japan.

In 2007 I co-founded the artists project space RISE berlin and acted as its director and curator until 2013.

“Shroud”, a self-portrait screen printed in my own blood, was included in the Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition Impressions of the Century — 100 Years of the Fine Art Print.

“The emergence of Lee’s image on the Shroud elevates him to the status of a surrogate divine seemingly without the intervention of God. It comes off as both disquietingly heroic and at the same time spiritually arrogant”
David Bowie

statement

My works could be seen as a series of proposals which invite further qualification and refinement. I am interested in how art can be used as a tool to reorder the world around me and how this aesthetic order could have a consoling or agitating effect, or even both. A recurring theme in my work is pattern, I am drawn to patterns that predict and perhaps defy cosmic order. When I make art I think about whether it is still possible to make images and objects that embody ideas of faith, beauty and truth.

“LEE WAGSTAFF’s works ideate a symbolic mythology built around darkness and light; good and evil”. – ARTITIOUS Website

c.v.

Education

  • MPhil Royal College of Art (2014 -)
  • Australian Stunt Academy (2001)
  • MA Royal College of Art, London, England (1998-2000)
  • Kyoto City University of Art, Kyoto, Japan (1999)
  • BA (Hons) Central St.Martins College of Art and Design (1992)

Solo Exhibition

Group Exhibitions

Awards, Fellowships and Residencies

  • Frans Masereel Print Centre – Research Residency (June 2013)
  • Royal College of Art Printmaking Research Fellow (2000-2001)
  • Waterstone – RCA Award (2000)
  • Kyoto City University of Art – Travel Award (1999)

Collections

  • Victoria & Albert Museum
  • David Bowie Collection
  • RCA print archive
  • Various private collections in Turkey, Japan, India, USA and throughout Europe

Commissions / Collaborations

  • ‘Flesh and God’ A Dialogue Between Contemporary Artists and The Catholic Church of France (2003)
  • Karlheinz Weinberger- new publication (2003)
  • BowieArt Print Project (2001)
  • Mercedes Benz/Esquire C-Class Commission (2000)

Lecturing / Teaching

  • The Slade School of Fine Art
  • University of East London
  • Winchester School of Art
  • Royal Academy of Arts School
  • The Royal College of Art
  • Alberta College of Art & Design
  • Surrey Institute of Art & Design
  • The Minories Colchester
  • Kobe Art Village
  • The Victoria & Albert Museum

Bibliography

  • Le Christ au miroir de la photographie contemporaine Nathalie Dietschy Publisher: Editions Alphil 2016 (ISBN:978-2-88930-088-4)
  • Skull Sourcebook, A. Nozedar (2015) Publisher: Race Point (ISBN-978-1631061585)
  • Forever: The New Tattoo, R. Klanten (2012) Publisher: Gestalten (ISBN-10: 3899554426)
  • Lingering Whispers, Predrag Pajdic (2010), Publisher: The Pandorian (ISBN: 978-0-9553309-1-9)
  • 100,000 Years of Beauty, Elizabeth Azouley (2009), Publisher: Gallimard (ISBN-10: 207012844X)
  • Prints Now: Direction and Definition, Gill Saunders & Rosie Miles (2006), Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum (ISBN-13: 978-1851774807)
  • L’autoportrait au XXe siècle: Moi Je, par soi-même (2004), Pascal Bonafoux Editeur: Diane De Selliers (ISBN: 2903656290)
  • Hidden Histories, Michael Petry (2004) Publisher: Art Media (ISBN: 190288910X)
  • A Guide to Ecstacity, Nigel Coates (2003) Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (ISBN-10: 1568984243)
  • L‘ Eglise ET l’art d’avant-garde, De la provocation au dialogue (2003), by Monsignor Albert Rouet/Gilbert Brownstone (ISBN: 2 226 1135529)
  • ARS Erotica (2003 re-print), by Edward Lucie Smith (ISBN: 084720602)
  • The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes (2003), Ed. Francesco Bonami/Raf Simmons
    (ISBN: 8881 584042)
  • Art Tomorrow (2002), by Edward Lucie Smith (ISBN: 0847820602)
  • Ornament and Abstraction: the Dialogue Between non-Western, Modern & Contemporary Art (2001), Ed. Marcus Bruderlin (ISBN: 0300092261)
  • Impressions of the 20th Century, Fine Art Prints form the Victoria & Albert Museum Collection (2001), Ed. Margaret Timmers (ISBN: 1851773398)
  • Typical Men-The Male Body in Photographs by Men (2001), by Michael Watson
  • Ambit 162 (2000), Ed. Martin Bax/Eduardo Paolozzi (ISSN: 0002-6772)

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