2025
·IMPOSSIBLE FOREST·
Cruise Control Contemporary, Cambria, California, USA
CRUISE CONTROL CONTEMPORARY PRESS RELEASE:
A new art show unveils a series of drawings born from over two decades of observing forests and photographing nature.
The work captures impulsive, emotional responses to the natural world.
Each piece weaves a dreamlike narrative shaped by solitude and imagination.
Human relationships are explored within a magical, forested realm.
The result is a deeply personal journey through memory, nature, and connection
The naïve approach allows you to see the world without the heavy filters of experience or skepticism, making it easier to imagine possibilities others overlook. It opens doors to the unknown by encouraging curiosity and a willingness to explore without fear of failure. Without rigid expectations, you become more receptive to new ideas and surprising connections. This openness nurtures a broader imagination, allowing creativity to flourish beyond conventional limits. In essence, embracing the naïve invites wonder, leading to richer and more expansive visions of what could be.
In these intimate and evocative pieces, Wagner channels a childlike clarity to interpret the vastness of nature through abstraction. The works are born from a unique collaboration: Wagner was invited to create a mural at a New York City primary school. There, surrounded by the spontaneous energy of children, he introduced the continuation of his “impossible forest”—a place that exists beyond logic, yet feels intuitively real. As he explained this concept to the students, Wagner began to sketch alongside them, capturing their reactions and reimagining their perceptions through his own visual language.
The result is a body of work that feels both primitive and poetic—a kind of Rosetta Stone for understanding nature through the lens of imagination. These naive yet deliberate drawings act as a manual for decoding the natural world, simplified for young minds but rich with layered meaning.
The Impossible Forest invites viewers of all ages to see with fresh eyes and to believe, even if just for a moment, that the impossible might not be so far out of reach.
Each work stems from a common conceptual seed, yet unfolds as a distinct variation—echoing the richness of interpretation and the hand’s intimate dialogue with the idea.
2025
·IMPOSSIBLE FOREST·
Cruise Control Contemporary, Cambria, California, USA
CRUISE CONTROL CONTEMPORARY PRESS RELEASE:
A new art show unveils a series of drawings born from over two decades of observing forests and photographing nature.
The work captures impulsive, emotional responses to the natural world.
Each piece weaves a dreamlike narrative shaped by solitude and imagination.
Human relationships are explored within a magical, forested realm.
The result is a deeply personal journey through memory, nature, and connection
The naïve approach allows you to see the world without the heavy filters of experience or skepticism, making it easier to imagine possibilities others overlook. It opens doors to the unknown by encouraging curiosity and a willingness to explore without fear of failure. Without rigid expectations, you become more receptive to new ideas and surprising connections. This openness nurtures a broader imagination, allowing creativity to flourish beyond conventional limits. In essence, embracing the naïve invites wonder, leading to richer and more expansive visions of what could be.
In these intimate and evocative pieces, Wagner channels a childlike clarity to interpret the vastness of nature through abstraction. The works are born from a unique collaboration: Wagner was invited to create a mural at a New York City primary school. There, surrounded by the spontaneous energy of children, he introduced the continuation of his “impossible forest”—a place that exists beyond logic, yet feels intuitively real. As he explained this concept to the students, Wagner began to sketch alongside them, capturing their reactions and reimagining their perceptions through his own visual language.
The result is a body of work that feels both primitive and poetic—a kind of Rosetta Stone for understanding nature through the lens of imagination. These naive yet deliberate drawings act as a manual for decoding the natural world, simplified for young minds but rich with layered meaning.
The Impossible Forest invites viewers of all ages to see with fresh eyes and to believe, even if just for a moment, that the impossible might not be so far out of reach.
