Wag | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

A self-taught artist, Wag grew up in a family that was sensitive to art. He practiced classical piano for ten years. After graduating from the American University of LaSalle (Illinois) and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in the late '60s, he began a career in banking in Philadelphia.\n His first steps in finance were accompanied by his debut as a painter. He attended evening classes in art at university and created his first paintings in 1968. In 1972, he moved to Paris with dreams of becoming an artist. But until he could live from his art, he continued his career as a banker. He painted in his spare time and took night classes at the painter Francis Harburger’s studio. Then he returned to the United States and obtained an MBA as a Financial Analyst at Yale University in 1981. Back in France, he continued to paint in parallel with his work. He exhibited for the first time in Paris in 2011.\n Wag works in oil on paper and canvas. He appreciates the Renaissance painters and admires Caravaggio (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) for his mastery of chiaroscuro. Some artists, like Edvard Munch (Norwegian artist, nineteenth - twentieth centuries), are at the origin of his colour choices. But his greatest source of inspiration remains colour. His abstract style is characterized by a series of bands of bright colours arranged vertically or horizontally. A circular shape like a drop sometimes upsets the balance of his linear organic compositions.\n Wag examines the impact of shadow and light on the painting. He assembles primary and complementary colours in search of a perfect harmony. He creates different shades of black to give depth and mystery to his works. With a subtle trompe-l'oeil, the painter gives the impression of volume to the flat surface. Pushing the limits imposed by the background, his long “abstract tubes"" seem to move in relief. This optical effect provides a tactile aspect to his creations, stimulating the viewer's visual curiosity.