Ellipse Drawing

Going round-and-round is the central principle and action of Mary Wagner’s drawing practice. At the core, these drawings are simple, curvilinear paths arching about some absent center like an interstellar object flirting about a gravity well. The rigorous lines warm and complicate through repetition. Patterns pile on top of each other. The slim edge takes on form and depth, like cotton candy wisps or subatomic particles, cohering into something a bit more solid. Value and texture suggest dimension and movement. These things coax and combine into a sort of non-subject; or a subjective subject matter, inviting the viewer to project themselves. They are exercises in minimal purity, or expressions of chaos and order. They are complicated networks or psychedelic dreamscapes. Wagner was born and raised in rural Wisconsin. She lives and draws in Chicago. Her artwork is in private collections around the world.