“[With] her sharp choice of anecdotal detail that makes her work supple with directness and wit. Vág’s recording of old buildings...is steadfast and unwavering. Vág has the spirit of a poet and the mind of an ethnographer/archivist. She clearly values the tradition of valuing tradition and historical continuity, no matter how thread-worn and tattered it might appear to be...”
05 August - 29 September 2004
Art Matters Magazine, 2002 November
“It is well worth the walk upstairs to the third floor gallery at The Philadelphia Art Alliance to see the work of Anna-Mária Vág. If you wish, the quaint, old fashioned, OTIS elevator is available for your use... Vág’s beautifully rendered digital prints are not be confused with typical travel photography.”
The Hub, 11 January 2002
“The photographic studies read like frames from vintage cinema accented by historical details...Vág’s black and white photos appear retro, but are actually a contemplative statement about the passage of time and the effects of an unseen history...while the travelscapes are [often] devoid of figures, they reveal a human imprint.”
The New York Times . 08 June 2008
...Predictably, photography dominates [the exhibition “Sprawl” at the Jersey City Museum.] There are two main approaches, each represented by numerous examples. First there are street scenes by Anna-Mária Vág...”
All images and concepts shown throughout this site are the registered copyright and intellectual property of Anna-Maria Vag. No unauthorized use or reproduction of these images is permitted without written consent from Anna-Maria Vag and Vagfoto.
A Street Olds © Anna-Mária Vág
Constellation Door © Anna-Mária Vág
“Many things make New Jersey unique in the history of American art. But the defining characteristic of the state's contemporary visual arts scene is the...unusual landscape of post-industrial suburban sprawl...
Funneled through the dumbbell-shaped state on ribbons of expressways, railways and rivers, some two centuries of industrial development overlap throughout New Jersey, setting up a sometimes jarring chaos of dense urban fill, roadside motels, mass-designed subdivisions, verdant nature preserves, water towers, garden ornaments and all sorts of crumbling, outdated infrastructure...
The suburbs float on oil, of course. Lots of images in "Sprawl" dote on this fact, like Anna-Mária Vág's...”
The Star Ledger, 27 March 2008
Cambria Mack © Anna-Mária Vág
Pace University . 17 April - 19 April 2009
“Each spring in New York City, Left Forum gathers intellectuals and activists from around the world to address the burning issues of our times. Even before the financial meltdown... American capitalism has been deeply discredited in its failed wars, failed economy, and failure to meet the basic needs of people and the planet. Anna-Mária Vág’s multimedia projection of her work from the ongoing series BUILDING CHARACTER addresses the vital role of sustainable building practices in meeting those needs.
Cliffwood Avenue © Anna-Mária Vág
Fovea Exhibitions 13 June 2009
This multimedia slideshow will include work from regional and international photojournalists exploring the theme “Man vs. Nature.” Anna-Mária Vág’s photography has concerned itself with the built environment and its impact on the natural world for nearly two decades. Her featured series HUMAN INJURY is an investigation of the public’s compulsion to literally leave their mark on one of the earth’s main sources of oxygen and the resulting semiotic patterns.
Fine Food © Anna-Mária Vág
Meters © Anna-Mária Vág
portraits of our built environment by Anna-Mária Vág
“This exhibition privileges two points of view: looking down from a high vantage point, and looking out to a vanishing horizon. Art historian, Albert Boime, described the former as a "Magisterial Gaze" that gave early Americans, through painting and printmaking, a view at one with God, hence, Manifest Destiny. The latter may simply be the romance of the road, or curiosity about what lies just out of sight - an American impulse from early pioneers to Jack Kerouac.
Numerous painters and photographers have employed these vantage points, subsequently, they run the risk of cliché. When done well, however, each reveals the unexpected...The optimist in me delights at the disorienting perspective of looking down whereby familiar objects become abstract and dizzyingly beautiful, to looking out, with that forward motion promising adventure or escape....What I hope the photographs provide...is pleasure in the variety of ways 'down' and 'out' can be imaged, and what emotional liberation such points-of-view can have on our often confined and overly responsible psyches.”
Sweeper © Anna-Mária Vág
Angle Gallery 5 - 31 January 2010
23 Sandy Gallery 5 - 27 February 2010
Ver(a)rt Gallery 2-28 February 2010
History personal and otherwise is brought forth through an eclectic mix media and mode from four Seattle based artists.
Anna-Maria Vag
Northwest Millwork © Anna-Mária Vág