Bio

Over the last several decades, artist Wes Lang has been honing his craft involving, amongst other things, a tireless, obsessive mining of a post-pop American landscape. Many of the artist's influences are a function of a distinct autobiographical experience with certain exceptions; the indigenous American as well as other totems of the American West, and painters and sculptors from middle of last century such as Twombly, Guston, Kline, Mitchell and Bacon, dove-tailing on up to the more contemporary ones such as Basquiat, Kippenberger, and Mike Kelley. 

To date, Lang has made his mark primarily on canvas and paper. He is known for creating surfaces that sizzle; bombastic mélanges often brimming with elegantly rendered, still rough-around-the-edges imagery of grim reapers, Native American chieftains, fallen country music icons, sultry seductresses, long lost folk legends, dead authors, motorcycles, roses and other flora, birds, horses, all of which jockey for prominence within compositions sewn together and resolved by cryptic scrawls with a bittersweet vernacular resonating of Ram Dass and the Tao by way of the edge of the universe. 

CV

Born in 1972 Chatham, NJ
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
This Simple Path, Eighteen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Pink and Blue, Almine Rech, New York, USA

2021
ENDLESS HORIZONS, Almine Rech, Aspen
Healing of a Nation, One Trick Pony Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2020
Wes Lang, Almine Rech, Paris, France

2019

Taking Off For Other Dimensions, Eighteen, Copenhagen, Denmark

2016
The Believer, Eighteen, Copenhagen, Denmark

2015
The Longest Night of the Year, Milk Studios Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2014
Wes Lang – The Studio, ARoS Museum of Art, Aarhus, Denmark

2013
Blessings, Half Gallery, New York, US
Blue Dream, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2012
69, IKON Ltd, Santa Monica, California, USA
Here Comes Sunshine, Half Gallery, New York, USA

2011
Sittin’ On A Rainbow, Chateau Marmont, Hollywood, California, USA
Life and How To Live It, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2010
Smile, It´s A Grey Day, Ziehersmith New York, USA

2009
Going All The Way For The U.S.A., V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Carry On, two person show with Ryan Schneider, Eighth Veil, Los Angeles, USA
Just Landed, two person show with Eddie Martinez, Alice Day, Brussels, Belgium

2008
Are You Ready For the Country? ZieherSmith, New York, USA

2006
Skulls and Shit, collaboration with Donald Baechler, Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2005
The Promised Land, ZieherSmith, New York, USA
I Shall Be Released, Bucket Rider, Chicago, USA
American Beauty, Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2004
Night of 100 Covers, Loyal Release, Passerby/Gavin Brown Enterprise, New York, USA
Night of 100 Covers, Loyal Release, Gallery Milliken, Stockholm, Sweden
Home At Last, ZieherSmith, New York, USA

2003
Self-portraits as a Handsome Young Man, RARE Gallery, New York, USA

2002
Wes Lang: New Works on Paper, GV/AS Gallery, Brooklyn, USA

2001
Bras, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, catalogue with essay by Edward Albee

2000
Blacks & Whites, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, USA



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022
V1 XX - Twenty years of V1 Gallery, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2021
Salon de Peinture, Almine Rech, New York, USA
Un Hiver à Paris, Almine Rech, Paris, France

2020
Vampires – The evolution of the Myth, Caixa Forum, Fundación Bancaria, Madrid, Spain
MINE IV, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2019
Vampires, La Cinémathèque Française – Musée du Cinema, Paris, France
MINE III, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Birds, CHART Art Fair with V1 Gallery, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

2018
No Man is an Island – The Satanic Verses, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark

2017
Horses, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2016
13, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2014
CHART Art Fair, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tattoo – Contemporary Art and Tattoo Culture, Brandt Museum of Art, Odense, Denmark

2013
Purple Diary, Wes Lang & André Saraiva, Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, USA

2012
Tonight We Won’t Be Bored – Ten Years of V1 Gallery, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen
Market Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
Underværker – Mesterværker fra danske privatsamlinger, Kunsten, Aalborg, Denmark

2011
What’s He Building in There?, curated by Jesper Elg and Mikkel Grønnebæk, Fuse Gallery, New York, USA
Status – Somewhere Between Position and Condition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Con Amore: Leif Djurhuus Collection, Museum of Modern Art, Aarhus, Denmark

2010
Stars Above / Valley Below, Horton Gallery, New York, USA
Lush Life 3 First Bird (A Few Butterflies), curated by Franklin Evans & Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Invisible Exports, New York, USA
Big Picture, curated by Ryan Schneider, Priska Juschka Fine Art, New York, USA
Draw, curated by Erik Foss and Curse Mackey, Museo de la Cuidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Public Image, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, Scotland

2009
Grand Reopening, ZieherSmith, New York, US
Carry On, two person show with Ryan Schneider, Eighth Veil, Los Angeles, US
Just Landed, two person show with Eddie Martinez, aliceday, Brussels, Belgium
What So Proudly We Hail, Holster Projects, London, UK

2008
Destruction of Atlantis, curated by Jesper Elg, Union Gallery, London, UK
Everything Else, curated by Chris Churchill, Franklin Parrasch Gallery,
New York, USA
Timeless, Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey, USA
The Boys Are Back In Town, V1 Gallery, Copenhagan, USA
The Boys Are Back In Town, Romo Gallery, Atlanta, USA
Brevity’s Rainbow, Cinders Gallery, Brooklyn, USA

2007
Mail Order Monsters, curated by Kathy Grayson, Peres Projects, Berlin, Germany
Collector’s Choice, Dealim Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
True Faith, Greenberg Van Doren, New York, USA
Dark Victory, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, Athens, Greece
Five Painters, Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2006
10 Curatorial Perspectives, curated by Wayne Northcross, Haven Arts, Bronx,
New York, USA
You have to be almost gifted to do what I do, Alexander and Bonin, New York, USA
Panic Room – Works from The Dakis Joannou Collection, curated by Kathy Grayson and Jeffrey Deitch, Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece
Natural History Museum, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, New York, USA
Don’t Abandon The Ship, Allston Skirt, Boston, USA

2005
Words: The Formal Presence of Text in Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper, Andrea Rosen, New York, USA
Loyal and his Band, Gallerie Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Working Artists in Brooklyn, Romo Gallery, Atlanta, USA
Petits formats ou miniatures, Galerie Quang, Paris, France
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Gallerie Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2004
The Hunt For Your Family, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Odd Number, Stockholm, Sweden

2003
New York Dirt, Claska Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Stream, Rare Gallery, New York, USA
Benefit, White Columns Gallery, New York, USA

2002
Waar, Andrew Andrew Curatorial Services, New York, USA
What’s New Pussycat?, Briggs Robinson Gallery, New York, USA
She’s Crafty… and So Is He Sometimes, White Columns Gallery, New York, USA
T & A, GV/AS Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, USA

2001
Paper, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, USA
OIL, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, USA

2000
Hello My Name Is, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, USA
Meat Market, Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, USA

1999
Under Scrutiny, Limner Gallery, New York, USA


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Let The Day Begin, V1 Gallery, 2019
Because I Have Little Wisdom, V1 Gallery, 2018
The Studio, Wes Lang, ARoS Press, 2014
Wes Lang, PictureBox, 2013
Skulls And Shit: Donald Baechler & Wes Lang, New York, Ajax Press, 2010


SELECTED AWARDS

Edward F. Albee Foundation Residency, Montauk, New York, 2001

Selected Works
THE LIGHT, THE LIGHT, THE LIGHT. 2016
ACRYLIC, OIL, COLLAGE, AND OIL STICK ON CANVAS
244 X 274 CM
Taking Off For Other Dimensions. 2019
INSTALLATION VIEW
EIGHTEEN
Taking Off For Other Dimensions. 2019
INSTALLATION VIEW
eighteen
DOUBLE HAPPINESS. 2019
ACRYLIC, ENCAUSTIC & CRAYON ON CANVAS IN CUSTOM RED FRAME
DIPTYCH: 51 X 61 CM & 183 X 153 CM
OVERALL: 232 X 268 CM
LET THE GOOD OUTWEIGH THE BAD. 2019
ACRYLIC, ENCAUSTIC & CRAYON ON CANVAS IN CUSTOM BLUE FRAME
DIPTYCH: 51 X 61 CM & 183 X 153 CM
OVERALL: 232 X 268 CM
IN THE DWELLING OF THE MAN OF PEACE. 2015
ACRYLIC, OIL STICK, COLORED PENCIL, PENCIL AND PAPER COLLAGE ON CANVAS
183 X 152 CM
Spiritual Surrender. 2021
Acrylic on paper in blackstained oak frame
35.5x28 cm
Fuck the Facts. 2019
Charcoal, pastel, acrylic and India ink on paper in black stained oakwood frame with true color glass
65 x 85 cm
The Builder. 2019
Pastel and wax crayon on paper in black stained oakwood frame with True Color glass
37 x 44 cm
FELLOW TRAVELER OF AWARENESS. 2016
ACRYLIC, OIL, COLORED PENCIL, PENCIL CARBON TRANSFER AND PAPER COLLAGE ON CANVAS
213 X 304 CM
THE BELIEVER. 2016
INSTALLATION VIEW
EIGHTEEN