Wagner's process involves the investigation of what art critic David Bonetti called "the systems people create, our love of order, our ambition to shape the world, the value we place on knowledge, and the tokens we display to express ourselves.
Mark Johnstone sees in this work "a purity of line, form and shape, [that] are exercised with great clarity, and exemplify her long standing fascination with the materials of architecture.
[5][6][7] Art & Science: Investigating Matter examined both the laboratories in which scientific research takes place and the materials and instruments native to these environments, such as fruit flies, chemicals, beakers, test tubes, and flasks.
Cross Sections employed the use of medical imaging devices such as the MRI and the scanning electron microscope to photograph familiar organic materials such as corncobs, pumpkins, and shark teeth.
This process "borrows from the rich history of the still life with a keen eye toward Giorgio Morandi, utilizing similar strategies of grouping familiar objects in beautiful, compelling installations.
"[14] Lightbulbs are arranged by color in Ode to Yves[15] and Green Energy; by technological advancement in Early Tungsten and Carbon Filaments 1900–1910; and by era in The Lamps of 1900[15] and The 1890s.
For this project, Wagner used her photographs from -86 Degree Freezers (12 Areas of Concern and Crisis) to clad the walls of the space from the showroom floor to the dressing rooms.
Along the interior walls of the auditorium, Wagner photographically etched anodized aluminum with images of an orange grove, which once covered all of downtown Los Angeles and the greater Southern California sprawl.
[23][24] David Johnstone writes of this work, "The images evoke a range of responses, from serene meditation to analytical observation, and mark the shifting artistic, political, social, and economic values represented by the construction on this piece of real estate.