Linda Wagner

 

Linda Wagner has been painting professionally for over twenty years 
and her work has greatly evolved throughout her career. She originally 
focused on landscape painting but has been working in a more abstract 
style for the past several years. This change was introduced in her 
2006 solo exhibition at the Foyer Gallery, "Driven to Abstraction" 
which marked a major turning point in her career. Having visited the 
English countryside, Wagner became fascinated with the quilt like 
farmers fields and began depicting them in her canvases as abstract 
compositions reminiscent of the flat canvases introduced in the early 
twentieth century with the work of Mondrian and later Pollock

Wagner prefers to paint in series' in order to push one idea through 
several pieces. Her latest body of work is bold and powerful. She lets 
her insinct and intuition guide her; working on her paintings becomes 
an adventure and the finished piece is a treasure that she discovers 
in the process. Each painting contains vibrant colours and rich 
textures. In some areas the paint is thickly applied, while other 
sections reveal under layers that are newly exposed. The focus on the 
materiality of the paint adds complexity and depth to the paintings, 
which is commanding yet pleasing. Wagner always knew that one day she 
would paint a bold abstract series, but was waiting until the right 
moment and until she was brave enough to conquer her fear of working 
on large canvases. In this series she has clearly lost any inhibitions 
regarding scale and colour and has produced an innovative body of work 
that illustrates her versatility as an artist.

Wagner's work is exhibited in both public and private collections 
internationally. She has participated in solo shows and group 
exhibitions in numerous galleries including the Foyer Gallery, The 
northern Lights Gallery and the Upstares Gallery in Squamish , BC., 
the Wilsden Galery in Courtenay, BC., the  Humberston Edwards Gallery 
in West Vancouver, BC., The Rain Forest Gallery in Tofino, BC., and 
The Gallery in Victoria, BC. Wagner was awarded A.F.C.A. status by the 
Federation of Canadian Artists and was the recipient of an Award of 
Excellence from an FCA group show.

lindawagner@shaw.ca

www.lindawagner.ca