VIRGINIA WAGNER | RADIATOR GALLERY
Virginia Wagner
Radiator Gallery
BACKDROP
08 Sept - 07 Oct 2023Introduction
BACKDROP is a solo exhibition of paintings and animation by Brooklyn-based artist Virginia Wagner. The show is anchored by large, freestanding paintings constructed from reclaimed wood. The works function like stage sets, forming a broken panorama. The paintings picture theater architecture and waterways that border New York, invoking the Hudson River Valley School while playing with the genre of scenic painting.
Over the last decade, Wagner’s work has focused on sites of conflict between human construction and the natural world, including flood zones, abandoned factories, and areas of desertification. BACKDROP deepens this investigation into Wagner’s local ecosystem. In a city contending with rising waters, toxic air, and excessive waste, what role does landscape painting have to play? In an art context saturated by a kaleidoscope of content, what holds center stage?
BACKDROP takes inspiration from the immersive quality of 19th-century Romantic painting while simultaneously upending its singular vision of landscape. This genre offered an Edenic portrait of Nature as boundless in resources and ripe for colonial expansion. In contrast, Wagner’s landscapes are fractured. Green space is fragmented. Floorboards are flooded.
ARTIST PROCESS & CLIMATE APPROACH
Questions of local ecology and sustainability were at the helm of BACKDROP. They guided the process of planning the show as well as the subject matter. From its inception, I knew that I wanted the exhibition to be site specific – both in terms of the installation and in that it would feature local landscape. I began by visiting the gallery and walking around the neighborhood of Long Island City, situated on Newtown Creek. I was intimately familiar with this contaminated water body as I had recently climbed into it (in waders) to install a video piece for FluxFactory’s exhibition, Creekworthy.
Newtown Creek’s proximity to the gallery and its toxic ecology situated it squarely in the center of the map for BACKDROP. The Creek was named a Superfund Site because of the Greenpoint oil spill and its history as a repository for waste and raw sewage. I was also interested in its role as host of a massive wastewater treatment plant, a garbage transfer station, and a community of squatters and off-the-grid boaters. Its propensity for flooding indicates that this border of our city will be in flux as storms increase and waters rise.
From the outset, my intention was to create landscape paintings of the Hudson River Valley region that were freestanding, like stage sets. It didn’t make sense to buy stretchers, shipped from elsewhere and factory-made. Instead, I began collecting. I drove to Dead Horse Bay – a stretch of beach by the Rockaways infamous for its historic trash. Named for the animal carcasses that washed up from a neighboring glue factory, it was expanded in the 1950s by Robert Moses using landfill covered by topsoil. Over time, the topsoil eroded.
Painter and friend Julie Heffernan joined me to mine the layers of drowned objects left behind. We hopped a fence or two (the site is closed due to radiological contamination) and filled three industrial garbage bags. This collection sat in the corner of my studio as I made the rest of the work, smelling of wet leather, rot, and the sea. Eventually, I wove these objects into the backs and supports of the paintings and displayed a few of them on their own.
Stage Right, 2023, Ink and oil on canvas, 88 x 64 inches
From May to August, I collected wood from the side of the road, shorelines, and dumpsters. I gathered discarded rope, buoys, and bricks from a boat dock on Newtown Creek. These locations provided the raw material for constructing the work while at the same time informing the imagery in the paintings. I needed large, straight planks for the painting frames, so I called lumber yards and asked if they would donate flawed pieces. I am grateful to Alan at Sawkill Lumber who offered reclaimed barn wood.
I purchased new canvas so that the paintings would have a smooth, evenly-gessoed surface. In contrast, I dyed the back of the canvas with ink washes to achieve a moldy, paint-rag look. The result was an aged faux finish that sat alongside authentically worn wood.
Virginia Wagner stretching canvas
Found wood and objects in Virginia Wagner’s studio
VIDEO DEVELOPMENT
The video I created, Drift, had a low carbon footprint. I began by asking friends if they had boat access to Newtown Creek and was treated to a ride on an old wooden sailboat by the sculptor Ilan Averbach. Filmmaker Alexis Karl accompanied us and captured the shoreline in slow motion. This footage became the backdrop of the 3-D animation. I then built a small animation studio out of an old clothing rack, canvas scraps, and green fabric. I made the subjects of the video from trash and studio debris. The only thing I purchased for the video was a roll of cellophane for the water, which provided ideal transparency and reflectivity.
Drift (Excerpt), 2023, Single Channel Video, 9 min
Carbon Emissions: 1.013 tCO2e
Packing and Shipping
The local nature of BACKDROP kept shipping costs and emissions low. I transported the work from my studio in Crown Heights to Radiator Gallery in Long Island City in the period of a 4-hour U-Haul rental. Each painting was wrapped in plastic with a piece of cardboard on its face. I will use the same process and materials to return the work, saving the plastic for future ink spills. The cardboard will stand between the paintings in storage.
Transportation: 0.901 tCO2e
22 miles with U-Haul: 10’ Moving Van 0.05 tCO2e
100 miles with a private car between studio and gallery 0.04 tCO2e
1 gallon of gasoline for the boat ride 0.001tCO2e
Electricity: 0.13 tCO2e
Lights:
25 LED bulbs (10 w each) = 250 w an hour
13 hours a week: 3.25
13 x 4 weeks: 13 kWh
Video Projector
250 w x 13 hours a week: 3.25 kWh
3.25 kWh x 4 weeks: 13 kWh
AC:
800 w for 6 hours during the first week: 4.8 kWh
Installation at Radiator Gallery
RADIATOR GALLERY STATEMENT
RadiatorArts is a multifaceted organization that includes Radiator Gallery and studio space. Cofounded by artists Daniela Kostova and Tamas Veszi, the gallery has hosted over 75 exhibitions and events since 2011. Veszi’s art practice reflects the multi-use and reuse strategies that govern the space. He helps construct rotating installations in the modular gallery. He then builds many of his own sculptures from remixed plinths and gallery shelves.
There are communal elements to the Radiator building. The artists who rent studio spaces share responsibility in keeping up the common areas, including the gallery. This creates community and keeps the project financially sustainable through the sharing of utilities, resources, and amenities.
Radiator has made green choices throughout the gallery’s lifespan, such as using exclusively LED bulbs. They purchase electricity through Green Mountain Energy, which sources renewable energy and contributes to carbon offsets.
RadiatorArts has hosted a number of international exchange exhibitions – including with artists and institutions in Paris, Vienna, Israel, and Italy. The ambitious scope of these shows is in contrast to their small operating budget. Therefore, they found creative solutions to keep the shipping of artwork financially sustainable. For instance, they worked with consulates and embassies to add artwork to diplomatic parcels. At other times, artists carried artwork with them in their luggage. These exchanges fostered positive cross-cultural relationships, but the international air travel required produced a large carbon footprint. The alternative shipping solutions were one way to shrink the ecological impact of the exchange.
RadiatorArts pays for business recycling, and uses recyclable products when possible for shipping and events. That said, Veszi is aware of the limitations of the city’s recycling practices. Just because something is correctly sorted doesn’t mean it gets processed for reuse. Veszi has recently expanded RadiatorArts to Thermostat, a cafe with film programming. He is prioritizing partnering with local bakeries, but is conscious of the fact that, as a small operation, it is often more cost effective to order products from elsewhere. He is aware of the excessive waste associated with these orders – in terms of packaging and transportation emissions. When possible, he looks to green business solutions, such as using reusable cups for in-person customers.
Installation of drowned objects, Radiator Gallery.
REFLECTIONS
The process of thinking through the ecological impact of this work while creating it acted as a compass. The attempt to find, rather than purchase, most of my materials, took me to unseen city edges and troves of trash. Collecting and constructing with these objects informed the imagery, palette, and textures in the paintings. In turn, the paintings suggested the types of objects to search for. My practice opened up to a collaboration with waste.
CREDITS
This report was created by the artist Virginia Wagner, using a template from Artists Commit. Artists Commit CIR Mentor, Deville Cohen offered guidance, structure, and editing support. Wagner interviewed Radiator Gallery Cofounder and Director Tamas Veszi for the gallery statement. Thank you to Nat Roe who curated the show. Special thanks to OHYUNG, Alison Clancy, Ilan Averbuch, Julie Heffernan, Alexis Karl, John Bianchi, Martha Joseph, Alex Noble, Sawkill Lumber, and Gabrielle Vitollo.
Exhibition Link: http://www.radiatorarts.com/backdrop/