Before hearing his artist talk at Gallery North in East Setauket, I saw Mark van Wagner’s sculpture as physical manifestations of the human psyche – of wounded souls, vulnerable dreamers, even jokers going for a walk – or, when grouped together, of forgotten cities with struggling buildings plagued by constant storms, or anthropomorphized beings searching for the future. But as I learned, his work embraces so much more. Mark’s current exhibition, up through April 4, presents a wide overview of his art practice, from sculpture, paintings, drawings and prints. Mark is a deep thinker whose textured pieces are influenced by the majestic beauty of decayed archaeological architecture, primordial and apocalyptic rock formations, sociological and interpersonal relations, Buddhism, philosophy, scientific study, environmental degradation, as well as childhood memories and worldwide travels. Fundamentally, his art holds tensions of contradictions. Made from discarded cardboard boxes, on which Mark paints, pours glue, adheres sand – both found and bought - his blocks appear heavy but actually weigh very little. They seem precariously perched atop other blocks but are quite stable. They are humorous but simultaneously serious. They suggest figures yet are landscapes. And though they are landscapes, they are not landscapes in the traditional sense, but rather they ARE the landscape itself, made from beach sand acquired in his travels and referencing memories of those places. Even this sand contains multiple meanings, suggesting its originating landscape, the sandcastles Mark built as a kid, the key ingredient to our ubiquitous concrete infrastructure, the most basic element on earth’s surface within which all life’s complexities emanate, as well the detritus of life’s inevitable decay. Despite all the influences, however, Mark’s is an intuitive and emotional art, as seen most clearly in the works on paper, made with gestural pours of glue and colored sand, and breathing the sensitivity of dancing meditation.