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Wes Lang (born 1972) is an American visual artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. He is known for exploring themes of mortality and the human condition through artworks featuring a personal repertoire of motifs drawn from pop culture, Americana, and imagery of skulls and skeletons. After emerging in the 1990s New York art scene, he has since received increasing international recognition.
Wes Lang was born in 1972 in Chatham, New Jersey. [1] Although he grew up in a suburban area, his parents exposed him from an early age to a wide range of cosmopolitan influences, particularly in art and music. His mother used to work as an interior designer at Vogue before starting her own design business. She frequently took Lang with her to furniture and fabric showrooms, museums, and the upscale spaces she was designing, providing him with an early window into creativity and design. [2] His father ran a record shop for some time, further nurturing Lang's exposure to music. [3] Supported by his family, Lang's interest in art emerged at a young age, laying the foundation for his future career as a visual artist. As he remembers: “I’ve always known what I wanted to do since I was very small. It wasn’t a question. I very confidently would say, ‘I am going to be an artist'." [2]
Lang only came to art in his late twenties as an autodidact. [2] After finishing high school, he moved to New York, where he initially worked a variety of jobs, including as a sales clerk in a record shop, as a studio assistant in a tattoo parlor, and as an art handler at both the Guggenheim Museum and the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. [3] His time in the museum and gallery allowed him to learn directly from the artworks he handled.
Since 2012, Lang has lived and worked in Los Angeles, California, [3] where he resides with his wife, Kat Lang, and their two children. [4] He maintains a private studio and devotes himself to his artistic practice. [3]
Lang's artistic output consists primarily of paintings and drawings, but he also works across a range of other media, including sculpture, collage, fabric, glass, and precious metals. Each medium reflects his signature motifs and his engagement with themes of mortality and memento mori , which he uses to encourage viewers to pursue meaningful lives and to counter what he describes as “the prevailing narrative of negativity” [5] in contemporary society. His approach differs by medium: his paintings are dense with color and imagery, whereas his drawings are more restrained, often leaving wide areas of white space on the page.
Lang's body of painting includes series of canvases featuring his signature motifs and themes.
His most extensive series to date is The Black Paintings. Produced between 2022 and 2024, it comprises 96 pieces featuring Lang's distinctive cast of characters, most notably skeleton figures, alongside animal-like and otherworldly beings. Some works depict groups or single portraits of long-haired skeletons dressed in dinner jackets, shown in restaurants and stylish bars where they sip fine wine, play musical instruments, and engage in conversation. At times these characters appear against completely dark backgrounds or patterned wallpapers, while in other works they are set within lush landscapes. Other pieces feature still lifes with skulls and animals. Lang recognised the interconnected quality of the series, describing it as a “narrative journey that these characters were going on.” [2] This narrative dimension also evokes associations with film, particularly the 1920 movie The Moon Riders, which served as an inspiration for the works. [2] The Black Paintings were the subject of Lang's first major show in the UK, held at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, London, in 2024. [4]
Lang has collaborated with fashion designers and musicians on a variety of projects. In February 2022, he worked with Mike Amiri and the fashion house AMIRI for the Los Angeles runway show presenting the Fall 2022 collection. Lang contributing his signature gothic and graphic motifs, including grim reapers, skeletons, and werewolves, which appeared on sweaters, shirts, outerwear, and a denim jacket. He also hand-painted select pieces for the overall runway mise-en-scène. [6]
In 2013, Lang collaborated with musician Kanye West by licensing his artwork for the Yeezus tour. Lang's designs were adapted for tour merchandise, including T-shirts, which became popular among fans and collectors. [3]