Lee Wagstaff Optical illusions, Pop Art and Surrealism

Lee Wagstaff, an English artist, certainly has a style of his own that doesn’t fail to awe his viewers. His geometric oil paintings, showcasing optical illusions, are what makes his works unique. His mesmerizing ‘moving images’ hold many hidden surprises.

Wagstaff, who was born in London, UK, but now settled in Berlin, Germany, fragments and manipulates his source material by using pattern generating algorithms. And his inspiration comes from nature, art history, popular culture, and even pornography! He deliberately obscures his images with patterns to get a final painting that is just an essence of the image. It is the viewer’s brain that is compelled to make the painting whole again. His works are a blend of pop art and surrealism.

Wagstaff states on his website, “My works could be seen as a series of proposals which invite further qualification and refinement. I am interested in how art can be used as a tool to reorder the world around me and how this aesthetic order could have a consoling or agitating effect, or even both. A recurring theme in my work is the pattern, I am drawn to patterns that predict and perhaps defy cosmic order. When I make art, I think about whether it is still possible to make images and objects that embody ideas of faith, beauty, and truth.”

Wagstaff graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, both in London, UK. He also studied at Kyoto City University of Arts in Kyoto, Japan, where he was a recipient of the Travel Award. He also received Waterstone-RCA Award.

Wagstaff’s works have been displayed globally in both solo and group exhibitions in Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. His works are also in various museums and private collections.