It all started when…
The Dreamwork of Isaiah Zagar - Preface of the book published by Philadelphia's Magic Gardens in 2019.
"Over the past 20 years, Isaiah Zagar has gained an international reputation as a mural artist. His embellished walls and hyper-energized environments attract thousands of visitors to Philadelphia annually. Monumental and engaging, this art has transformed a neighborhood of mundane row houses into an unorthodox outdoor gallery. But what is less known about Zagar is that these walls represent only one aspect of his artistic identity.
Few creative individuals are as complex, informed and multifaceted as Zagar. While he received a conventional education at the Pratt Institute, many of his influences come from non-academic experiences. Throughout his lifetime, Zagar has traveled the world to see art first hand and to meet artists from different cultures. These encounters are often absorbed into his work, referenced directly or implied.
It is not easy to define Zagar or explain his artistic achievements. He is a hybrid, a visionary who needs to be acknowledged entirely on his own terms. His public works are reminiscent of Outsider art sites, yet with his comprehensive knowledge of art history, Zagar can hardly be considered a naive artist. These walls of tile fragments and broken mirrors are the result of a trained artist responding to and reimagining Outsider art environments. Exploring the conceptual underpinnings of the self-taught artists he admires, Zagar found a way to create intuitively, rather than relying on an orientation acquired by formal training. While it is technically inaccurate to refer to Zagar as an Outsider, his affinity with the field is substantial.
For any other artist, this vast number of surfaced walls would be an impressive accomplishment. However, Zagar has also been motivated to create hundreds of paintings, thousands of drawings, and over 150 etchings. In addition, his collaborations with other artists have generated another large body of work. This immense output is a testament to a man obsessively driven to push his artistic self to its limit.
While Zagar’s veneration for Outsider art is reflected in his murals and the sites he has built, Western art history grounds his paintings, prints, and drawings. His works on canvas and paper are not traditional in appearance and are often produced with whatever materials are at hand. Zagar perceives himself as being part of a cultural undertaking that has been evolving since the Renaissance. He has studied the endeavors of the Western art masters in an attempt to understand the artist’s place in society. Like the High Renaissance painters and architects who left their mark on Rome and Florence or Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, Zagar has thoroughly rooted himself into the cultural identity of Philadelphia.
The content in Zagar’s art is consistent whether he is painting, drawing or surfacing a wall. He has mined the personal narrative from every conceivable perspective for over fifty years. It would be impossible to count the number of times he has rendered his children, grandchildren, parents, friends, acquaintances and even his dogs. But the images he depicts more than any others are of his wife Julia and himself. The most intimate of life’s moments are honestly chronicled like diary accounts, recorded with a sense of deliberate urgency. This art is completely unfiltered, often exposing emotions that are visceral and raw.
His inclination to annotate the personal narrative is directly influenced by art history. Zagar understands his own art in relationship to work he has seen in museums or books. Looking at the self-portraits of Rembrandt or Van Gogh encourages and reassures him. Artists who were the progressives of their time have given Zagar the fortitude to challenge the accepted mores of his contemporary domain. He is very much an artist living in the present, but deeply influenced by the past.
Art has the power to transform an individual, a society, as well as an environment. Zagar has observed that many times and strives to be an artist of influence. His life has been entirely devoted to making art, possessed by an almost mystical belief in his aesthetic. Few contemporary artists have been as successful in passionately engaging the general public in an uncompromised art experience. Isaiah Zagar makes evident that an artist can still be a potent force in his time, giving meaning and definition to the setting he chooses to embrace."
