Frank Wagner: Making Art out of Midnight Memories

Frank Wagner at peace vigil, Teaneck, NJ

Frank Wagner served as a radio operator with a US Army advisory team attached to a South Vietnamese infantry unit in the central Highlands of Viet Nam in 1964-65. He survived combat operations that the US government wouldn't acknowledge for 50 years. He signed up for Vietnam Veterans Against the War at a headshop on Cedar Lane, Teaneck in 1968. He's been an activist ever since.

A Bogota, NJ resident, Frank attended New York Institute of Photography and the School of Visual Arts, 1968-71. An active member of Veterans for Peace, DAV, Secaucus Vet Center art group, Warrior Writers, Combat Paper NJ and the Teaneck Community Chorus, Frank is a photographer, artist and poet.

Frank Wagner's art work has appeared in solo shows at local libraries and in Combat Paper shows in Jersey City, Morristown, Montclair and other locales. His work--ranging from photography to pen and ink drawings to wood carving--has won awards in VA art contests.

Selections of Frank Wagner's work will appear in “Combat Paper & Beyond,” an art exhibition running June 18 through July 9 at the Puffin Cultural Forum, 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck, NJ. The art show grand opening is Saturday, June 18 at 4 pm.

The exhibit explores the vision of the Combat Paper Project through innovative artwork created by veterans and non-veterans. Multi-media work by Eli Wright is featured with additional works by award-winning artists Jim Fallon, David Keefe, Rachel Heberling, Elisabeth Smolarz, Nate Lewis, Ron Erikson and others.

"Eyes" linocut on Combat Paper by Frank Wagner