IRA A. WAGNER
b. 1956, Bronx, New York
Ira Wagner began studying photography in 2008, after working on Wall Street for more than 25 years. With an interest in urban history, architecture and design, he has focused on photographing the urban landscape. He received his MFA from the Hartford Art School in 2013 and is currently teaching photography at Monmouth University in New Jersey. For his MFA project, he spent two years photographing the landscape of the Bronx. Since graduating, he has completed his project titled Houseraising, photographing houses being raised on the Jersey Shore following Hurricane Sandy. This project was featured in The New Republic, The National Geographic, and was released in a photobook by Daylight Books in 2018. In 2018, he received an artist grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He is currently working on a number of projects including photographing twinhouses in the Great Northeast in Philadelphia, “Acela” – the landscape along the Northeast Corridor train route between New York and Washington, Manhattan's Highline, and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in platinum palladium prints.
EDUCATION
1981 MBA Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
1978 BA University of Virginia
SOLO SHOWS
2017 Houseraising, The Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy, Brassworks Gallery, Montclair, NJ
and Gallery 211, Red Bank NJ
2016 Re-imagined Garden, New Jersey Landscapes, Rutgers Newark, Newark, NJ
2015 Superior Apartments, Photographs of the Bronx, Gallery at Hillside, Montclair, NJ
2014 New York Apartment Lobbies, The Betsy Hotel, Miami Beach, FL
GROUP SHOWS
2015 State of the Art, Montclair, NJ
2014 State of the Art, Montclair, NJ
2013 Split Seconds, MFA Photography
2013 Thesis Show, Hartford, CT and New York, NY
2012Interiors, 3 Person Show, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
2010Hot Dogs, Lobbies, Football and Ougadougou, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX
JURIED SHOWS
2017 ViewPoints 2017, Studio Montclair Juried Exhibition, aljira gallery, Newark NJ
2017 Fotofilmic Pulp #4, Vancouver, BC.
2016 Fotofilmic ’16, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Melbourne
2016 TheFence, outdoor installation in Boston, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Houston and Santa Fe
2015 The National: Best Contemporary Photography 2015, Fort Wayne Museum of Art
2015 Landscapes, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, Juror: Chantal Paul
2015 Photobook 2014, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester MA 01890
2014 INFOCUS Juried Exhibition of Self-Published Photobooks, Phoenix Art Museum
2014 The Human-Altered Landscape, PhotoPlace Gallery, Juror: Russell Lord
2014 The National: Best Contemporary Photography, Fort Wayne Museum of Art
2011 Open Exhibition, PhotoPlace Gallery, Juror: Alison Nordstrom
2011 Art Connections 7, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ
2010 Nostalgia, PhotoPlace Gallery, Juror: Larissa Leclair
2010 Photography 29, Perkins Fine Arts Center, Moorestown, NJ, Juror: Julia Dolan
2009 New Jersey Photo Forum, Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ, Juror: George Tice
2009 Continuum, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ, Juror: Patterson Sims
2009 Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ, Juror: Adelina VlasAwards and Publications
2014 Mossless Magazine vol 3: The United States
2014 Ain't Bad Magazine2013New Landscape Photography
2011 Honorable Mention, Camera Club of New York National Juried Competition, Juror: Richard Renaldi
2010 2nd Prize, International Photography Awards, Architecture: Interiors
2010 Honorable Mention, Soho Photo Gallery Members Exhibition, Juror: Lyle Rexor
2009 Honorable Mention, Soho Photo Gallery Members Exhibition, Juror: Brian Clamp
AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS
2018 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship in Photograph
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2013 – Present Monmouth University, Adjunct Professor of Photography
Courses taught: Digital Photography I and II, Black and White Photography and
Darkroom I and II, History of Photography, Advanced Independent Study.
PRIOR BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
1981 – 2008 Investment Banker
