Dave Wagner's art career began when the Sacramento Comic Press published a series of his humorous cartoons while he was in high school. He later attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he did editorial cartooning for the student newspaper and earned a BS in Graphic Design in 2000.
Upon graduating, he worked as a designer and painter for Douglas Bouman & Associates, a fine art and mural company in San Luis Obispo with a worldwide clientele. Among his projects, Dave was the primary designer and artist for a twelve-piece series of large-scale digital paintings at the Stratosphere Casino in Las Vegas. He was one of five artists sent to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to paint wall and ceiling murals at a new Four Seasons Hotel owned by the Royal Family of Saud.
Dave worked two years as a designer and manager for an event planning and marketing company in Barcelona, Spain. He returned to the U.S. and taught Art and Geography at an inner-city high school in Sacramento.
In 2005, Dave received a generous scholarship to attend California College of the Arts (CCA) in Oakland and San Francisco. He earned a BFA from CCA in 2007. The CCA Art Faculty selected him to receive his degree With Distinction, one of two students from his department to be so honored.
Dave continued to work on his art while living in Berkeley, and later, the redwood forests in Northern California.
In the Fall of 2011 Dave began the MFA program at the New York Academy of Art where he currently studies painting.
Exhibitions:
2009 Artists of the Emerald Coast: Redway, California
2011 Artists of the Emerald Coast: Redway, California