Gordon Wagner assemblage artist and Tiki carver - Collecting Tiki

O Ojaitimo Member Joined: Aug 04, 2006 Posts: 1317	O Ojaitimo Posted posted on Sat, Jan 28, 2012 12:49 PM I was in my brothers studio Michael McMillen the other day when I noticed this Tiki carving. He said his friend had carved it and was given to him by his wife after Gordon passed away in 1987. Here is some info on him. GORDON WAGNER 1915 - 1987 Since childhood, Gordon Wagner found inspiration beachcombing at Redondo Beach and wandering among the penny arcades of the Pier, dazzled by the seedy carnival atmosphere of the deteriorating beach city, port and boardwalks. He attended UCLA,studying engineering and art, followed by technique refinement at the Chouinard Art Institute. Working as an industrial engineer for the aerospace industry during World War II was important to the development of structure in his art. He, also, traveled extensively in Mexico and the Southwest, seeking indigenous cultures and shamanistic ritual forms. By the 1950s, he shifted from painting to using his collection of detritus as raw materials in assemblage. Identifying with both Symbolist and Abstract Expressionist traditions, Wagner juxtaposed rich and humorous nostalgic fragments of rusting clockworks, driftwood, clothing,oxidizing snapshots, worn tools - and double entendre! Each piece told a story or commented upon society,,,or unpretentiously engaged in aesthetic recycling!

I was in my brothers studio Michael McMillen the other day when I noticed this Tiki carving. He said his friend had carved it and was given to him by his wife after Gordon passed away in 1987. Here is some info on him.

GORDON WAGNER
1915 - 1987
Since childhood, Gordon Wagner found inspiration beachcombing at
Redondo Beach and wandering among the penny arcades of the Pier, dazzled by the
seedy carnival atmosphere of the deteriorating beach city, port and boardwalks.
He attended UCLA,studying engineering and art, followed by technique refinement
at the Chouinard Art Institute. Working as an industrial engineer for the
aerospace industry during World War II was important to the development of
structure in his art. He, also, traveled extensively in Mexico and the Southwest,
seeking indigenous cultures and shamanistic ritual forms.

By the 1950s, he shifted from painting to using his collection of detritus as raw
materials in assemblage. Identifying with both Symbolist and Abstract Expressionist
traditions, Wagner juxtaposed rich and humorous nostalgic fragments of rusting
clockworks, driftwood, clothing,oxidizing snapshots, worn tools - and double entendre!

Each piece told a story or commented upon society,,,or unpretentiously engaged in aesthetic
recycling!