Mark Wagner, Brooklyn, NY

Booklyn co-founder and proprietor of the Bird Brain Press. Wagner's impressive hand to-eye coordination is much remarked upon internationally. His prowess as a publisher was evidenced by both his tenure (1999-2007) as 2006 AIGA award-winning head of Booklyn Publications) as well as by the impressive demand for his own Bird Brain Press publications. See his full portfolio of work at his site here.

Mr. Handshake's Last Gasp, 2011

Fortune's Daughter/Midas, 2010

Tag, 2005

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Mr. Handshake's Last Gasp, 2011

A series of elusive, poetic phrases by Jeremy Schmall which are overprinted on real US dollar bills. Each stands on its own, yet also weaves into the tragic, redemptive tale of an enigmatic "Mr. Handshake"

Mr. Handshake's Last Gasp ASLEEP IN MY SHINY SHOE What I've learned fits entirely in a billfold ASK ME HOW I CAN SECURE YOUR SOCIAL STATUS We pursue the beautiful item even in absence DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION Inventory slumbers deep in the warehouse for lack of understanding WHAT'S A DOLLAR WORTH TODAY? a baby elephant? each tooth in your grin? a cinderblock holding up the empire state building? SPENT Whatever ends gracefully still ends

An edition of 9 books and 9 loose portfolios of prints.
Each signed and numbered by artist and author.
12 printed pages. Letterpress on genuine US Dollar bills.
Semirigid cases covered in Taupe Iris bookcloth with foil stamp and applied title bands.

Book measures 3 1/4 x 7 1/2 x 3/8 inches. 2.7 ounces.
Stab bound. Multiple variant endsheets and bound glassine interleaving.

Portfolio measures 3 1/4 x 7 x 3/8 inches.1.9 ounces.
Folding bristol board enclosure with letterpress printed belly band. Bills are numbered in pencil on back to indicate author's preferred order. 1 AP portfolio.

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FORTUNE'S DAUGHTER / MIDAS*, 2010

*This dos-a-dos book has two front covers with two different titles: "Fortune's Daughter: An Allegory of Prosperity" and "Fortune's Daughter: An Allegory of Greed"

The order in which the sides are viewed has a large impact on the way the experience of the reader. The first cover, "An Allegory of Prosperity," leads to an accordion-folded reproduction of the large-scale "Fortune's Daughter" collage, a female figure meticulously rendered from deconstructed US one dollar bills. The figure steps from a swirling landscape of flowers through an arched structure toward the viewer.

The second cover, "An Allegory of Greed," leads to a mini-epic narrative poem retelling the story of King Midas, who asked for and received the gift of the golden touch. The poem tracks Midas' psychology as he adjusts to this new power, a transition from simple wonder to uncontrollable desire to panic and despair. The golden touch is his undoing, culminating in the death of his daughter... unwittingly turned to gold in the final act.



Without the poem's context, "Fortune's Daughter: An Allegory of Prosperity" seems largely positive, transforming the ubiquitous bill into something personal and treasured through the careful application of craft. Viewed after reading the poem, however, the collage becomes horrific, a contemporary interpretation of a classic fable: a person made grotesque by the specter of wealth.



The poem's 284 lines of verse were written specifically as an accompaniment to the collage. The rhyme and meter suggest the fatalism inherent to Midas' story. The careful crafting and double entendre of the language mimics visual devices at work in the collage. The larger allegories of the collage and the poem contain multiple visual and verbal layers of reference and metaphor. Allusions to illuminated manuscripts; sacred texts, American history, and commerce (among other concerns) result in a parable without a definitive end, a perpetual reflection on value, craft, greed and transformation.




In an edition of 60 simple, 30 deluxe, and 2 display copies, 15 x 7 1/2 x 3/4 inches (closed), 23 pages, Bird Brain Press. Hybrid sewn and concertina binding (opens to 43 inches with accordion fully extended). Text pages letterpress printed from lead type, rule, and etched magnesium plates on Zerkal book paper. Color lithography printed on Novalith dull text with a satin aqueous coating. Collage from actual US one dollar bills. All copies are signed and numbered. Deluxe copies are hardbound in black Iris book cloth with inset title cards and printed internal spine, and housed in cherry wood slipcases. An entire US dollar bill is collaged throughout each copy. (2 pounds 12 ounces) The book was 10 years in the making, contains 284 lines of rhyming narrative poetry, and took 47 letterpress runs. Simple copies are bound in letterpress printed cream-color Perma Dur covers with brass eyelets. (11 ounces). The display copies, single-sided concertinas suitable for exhibition, are still in production with details forthcoming. Production assistance by Laumont Studios, Cosmos Communications, Dylan Graham, Amy Mees, Caitlin MacRae, Cat Glennon, Bryan Ready, and David Wagner.

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TAG, 2005

by Mark Wagner, Photographs by Kathryn Gritt, Lettering by Dylan Graham, Bird Brain Press (A.K.A. Bird Brain Scriptorium), 11 x 7 3/4 x 1 inch, 1 pound 1 ounce, 58 pages, Edition of 12.Each book contains: 19 trompe l'oeil painted note-book pages, 77 yards of hand-ruled line, 1190 words of handwritten text, 9 photographs, over 300 garment labels, & over 200 yards of thread.

Fiction. A man discovers that the garment tag itching at the back of his neck is not attached to his shirt, but to himself. The tag becomes a metaphor for the private humanity within every individual.
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Semi-rigid laminated perma dur covers drummed in quilted clothing tags with embroidered title patch and hinged navy spine. Sewn on English vellum tapes with black buckram concertina guard and hand-sewn headbands. Paint, color pencil, copy pencil fixed with methyl cellulose, black and white photographic fiber prints, photo corners, machine sewing, and pen on two-ply fabriano ingres paper. Accompanying 12-page colophon book contains lint, thread ends, and tag scraps from production in polyethylene bag. Housed in navy drop-spine box with embroidered title patch.

The variable nature of tag selection and hand applications makes Tag tantamount to an edition of one-of-a-kind books. Book number 10 from the edition is assembled as unbound page spreads and available for framed display. The story Tag was published originally as a small pamphlet in 2001 and included in 2002's Library in a Book.

topRESUME
EDUCATION:
University of Wisconsin - Madison (1991-1995 BFA)
University of Wisconsin - Marathon Center (1989-1991)

EMPLOYMENTS:
President, Booklyn Artists Alliance (2004-present)
Publications Director, Booklyn Artists Alliance (1999-present)
Proprietor, BirdBrain Press (1997-present)
Print and binding assistant for Ruth Lingen (2000-2004)
Printer, Woodside Press (1999-2000)
Designer, Art Industry (1998-2000)
Illustrator, The Progressive magazine (1996-1999)
Paper conservator, State Historical Society of Wisconsin (1994-1996)
Book conservator, Memorial Library, Madison WI (1992-1994)

COLLECTIONS:
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC
Clark Library, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Dennison Library, Mills College, Claremont, CA
Elmer L. Anderson Library, Minneapolis, MN
Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities, Los Angeles, CA
Golda Meir Library, Milwaukee, WI
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttle, Germany
Houghton Art Library, Cambridge, MA
Klingspoor Museum of Art, Offenbach am Main, Germany
Kohler Art Library, Madison, WI
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Long Island University Library, Brooklyn NY
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Mata and Arthor Jaffe Collection, Boca Raton, FL
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Multnomah Public Library, Portland, OR
Museum of Modern Art, Library Collection, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ
Reed College, Portland, OR
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Sterling Memorial Library, New Haven, CT
Swarthmore College Library, Swarthmore, PA
UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
UVM, Burlington, VT
Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

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PUBLICATIONS:
Tag, 2005, with Kathryn Gritt & Dylan Graham.
Dylan Graham’s Library in a Book, 2004.
The Tragic Tale of Dan Foreman of Construction, 2004, with Dylan Graham.
"In This Together," essay, 2004, Turn a New Page catalog.
A Revisioning of the Preamble..., 2003, with Jen Benka.
IX XI MMI, 2003, with Mac McGill.
Souvenir, 2003, with Marshall Weber & Amy Mees.
“If Libraries were Cafeterias”, short story, 2002, Link Magazine.
Library in a Book (Seven Books in One), 2002.
12/11, 2001, with Marshall Weber.
Japanese Vending Machines, 2001, with Kathryn Gritt.
Tag, 2001.
Professor Plumb and the Kissing Report, 2001.
The Fastener Incident, 2001.
The Man Who Married the Sky, 2001.
The Honey Broker, 2001.
Incident at the Butcher’s, 2001.
Printing Wheel, 2001.
Flag, with Marshall Weber, 2000
House of Ghosts, with Marshall Weber, 2000
Fortune, with Scott Teplin, 2000.
Lvs., 2000, with Patrick Flynn.
“The Princess and the Pee”, review, 1999, Artzine Magazine.
Cover Illustration, February 1999, Progressive Magazine.
Smoke in My Dreams, 1998.
“Stain,” fake show review, November 1998, Artzine Magazine.
"Cityscape," benefit print for Artzine Magazine, 1998.
“What’s in a (Written) Name”, essay, September 1997, Artzine Magazine.
Cover Illustration, December 1996, Progressive Magazine.
Tragic Book issues 3-9, 1993-2005, included art.
Ceci n’est pas un exchange, curated print exchange, 1995.
Travel By Dancing, 1994.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2003 Library in a Book in a Library, Parson’s school of Design, NYC
1997 Would I, Wood Eye, assemblage, Gallery 214, Madison, WI
1996 New and Used Art, collage and assemblage, Memorial Union Gallery, Madison, WI

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2005 Artists Turn To The Book, Getty Research Institute, LA, CA
2004 Jonathan Mason, Christian Uhl, Mark Wagner, 7/3 Split, Chicago, IL
A Perfect Union...More or Less, Renaissance Society / University of
Chicago, IL.
What the Book?, Flux Factory, Queens, NY.
Another Voice, Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore.
Artists Interrogate Politics and War, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI.
Selfish: Self portraits by 128 artists, Gallery 128, NYC.
This Thing We Do, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL.
Making Meaning: The Artist Book, Kansas City Art Institute.
So Far..., Occasional Art, St. Paul, MN.
2003 Rutgers Books Arts Simposium, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.
Overlooked and Looked Over, Occasional Art, St. Paul, MN.
Home Office, Ronald Feldman Fine Art, NYC.
Five Degrees, White Couch Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
Even the Birds Were on Fire, University of New Hampshire, Durham.
Hamady’s Problems, Columbia College, Chicago, IL.
2002 Rare Books of the Future, Center for Book Arts, NYC.
Parallel Botony, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA.
Highlights from the Kohler Art Library, Memorial Library, Madison, WI.
Chance Encounters, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
2001 Million Dollars, art made of money, 16 Beaver Group, NYC.
Scott’s Tissues, 16 Beaver Group, NYC.
Growing Books, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Lawn D’Art, Pyramid Art Center/Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY.
2000 Artists Books, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY.
Recent Acquisitions from the Print Department, Metropolitan Museum, NYC.
Made in Book Land, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY.
Books by Artists, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, NYC.
1999 Artwork from the 1999 Progressive Calender, Ground Zero Gallery,
Madison, WI.
Supermarket II, Slop Art Shop, Kansas City, MS.
1997 Document-uh, performance arts festival, Madison, WI.
Documents and Documentation, Gallery 214, Madison, WI.
Supermarket, Madison, WI.
1996 Well-Worn Text, Columbia College, Chicago, IL.
That’s Incredible, Gallery 214, Madison, WI.
1995 Elective Surgeries, Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI.
Pieces and Pieces of Pieces, Humanities building, Madison, WI.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Review Magazine, February 2005, "Making Meaning" show review.
Hamady’s Problems, 2004, show catalog with featured photograph.
Overlooked and Looked Over, show catalog with essay and featured photographs.
Artist’s Book Yearbook, Impact Press, 2003-2004, Article with featured photograph.
Made in Book Land, 2000, show catalog with featured photograph.
Artists Books, 2000, show catalog with featured photograph.
Supermarket II , 1999, show catalog with featured photograph.
“Mark Wagner, Would I Wood Eye”, Artzine, July 1997, show review and featured photograph.
Isthmus, February 21, 1997, show preview and featured photograph.
Supermarket, 1997, show catalog with featured photograph.
Chicago Reader, November 29, 1996, featured photograph.
Isthmus , July 14-20, 1995, Elective Surgeries show review and featured photograph.

See Mark Wagner Books (.MOV)

Peruse Mark's recent creations at:
Pavel Zoubok Gallery

This page is maintained by Marshall Weber.