The Proposition is pleased to present the first New York solo show by the British artist Lee Wagstaff inaugurating its new Chelsae space, in collaboration with Patrick Brillet.
The artist has spent the last four and a half years becoming heavily tatooed with his own designs. Raised as a Roman Catholic but with strong influences from Indian members of his family, Wagstaff’s tattoo designs draw strongly on his religious upbringing and consists of symbols and patterns that are found in almost every culture in the world (circles, squares, swastikas, stars, triangles, etc.). Wagstaff is interested in the migration and spontaneous generation of geometric forms; how the same shapes and patterns can be found in diverse cultures over vast geographic areas.
The artist has used the medium of tattoo to transform his body into a work of “living art”; a celebration of form and geometry using the fundamental concept of mark making combined with the creative possibilities of the human body. Wagstaff has become both form and content as well as subject and object.
Alongside the photographs, Wagstaff will be showing “Shroud”; a life size impression of the artist screenprinted using his own blood. Blood is a byproduct of tattooing so it seemed natural for the artist to use this in his work.
“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
Wagstaff sudied at the Royal College of Art in London, spending one semester studying with master woodblock printers in Kyoto, Japan. Wagstaff’s graduation show in 2000 was greeted wit h a great deal of media interest and led the art critic Edward Lucie-Smith to say “…anyone looking for a genuine successor to the Hirst/Emin generation, in terms of potential public impact should make a note of his name.”
In the last year Wagstaff’s international reputation has grown, taking part in exhibitions in seven countries (including five solo shows). Wafstaff’s performance was included in the prestigious Ornament Und Abstraction show at the Foundation Beyeler in Basel Switzerland; he was also the first western artist ever to be included at Art Annual in Kobe Japan.
“Shroud” can currently be seen at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in the exhibition ‘Impressions of the Century- 100 Years of the Fine Art Print.’
Please e-mail the gallery at info@theproposition.com with your e-mail address if you wish to receive additional images by the artist.