Artist Biography
Ellen Hackl Fagan is on a quest to hear the sound of cobalt blue. Working with saturated colors when painting sensitized her to color’s communicative nature. Building connections between color and sound through abstract paintings, photography and interactive digital technologies, she seeks to create a synaesthetic language that pairs color to sound. She is developing The Reverse Color Organ and the ColorSoundGrammar Game, two interactive projects that enable viewers to explore the aural potential of color.
Her process walks the balance between randomness and intention, like jazz music, revealing limitless possibilities for improvisation. Fagan exhibits her artwork throughout the greater New York metropolitan area and maintains her studio and curatorial practice in Bushwick.
Ellen Hackl Fagan is the owner of ODETTA, a new artist run gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC.
www.odettagallery.com
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue, Installation View, 2014.
Pigment, ink, acrylic, board, rag, yupo, vellum, floor
Represention:
Art in Flux, New York, NY
Pierogi, Flat Files, Brooklyn, NY ; Pierogi Gallery http://www.pierogi2000.com
Current and Upcoming Shows
It’s Happening!
Celebrating 50 Years of Public Art in NYC Parks
Saturday, October 21, 2017, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
East Pinetum (East 84th Street), Central Park
behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Enjoy free art exhibits, performances and workshops for all ages!
Visit my workshop “What Does Blue Sound Like?” and build a color/sound language with me
rcoblue.com
ODETTA presents
Appearance
Dates: October 27 - December 3, 2017
Opening reception: Friday October 27, 6-8 pm
Artist's Talk: Sunday, November 12, 3:00 pm
ODETTA presents
Colormania
Dates: September 8 - October 15, 2017
Opening reception: Friday September 8, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday September 17, 3:00 pm
Bushwick Open Studios: September 22-24, 2017
Recent Press:
James Panero, The New Criterion Critic's Notebook, "A high-flying score & expeditionary lore," April 26, 2017
http://www.newcriterion.com
Arts in Bushwick, Etty Yaniv, "Ellen Hackl Fagan is Immersed in Blue," February 10, 2017
http://artsinbushwick.org
CT Post, Christina Hennessy, Sound and Color Shape Artist's Aural Aspirations, June 25, 2016
www.ctpost.com
Hearst Media, Greenwich Time, S Magazine, Christina Hennessy, Her Evergreen Just Had To Be Blue, December 13, 2015, Cover Feature
http://blog.ctnews.com
Chris Setter, all rights reserved
Gallery Travels
August, 2015 http://gallerytravels.blogspot.com
The Architecture of Tomorrow with Douglas Turner
May 20, 2015: http://douglas-turner.com/flux-art-fair-harlem-has-its-day/
Recent Shows, News and Events
Mapping Bushwick
In-Case Art Projects Brooklyn Fireproof
curated by Jaynie Gilman Crimmins and Etty Yaniv
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday September 22, 6-9 pm
the exhibition is in the lower level at Brooklyn Fireproof
119 Ingraham St.
https://artsinbushwick.org/events/mapping-bushwick/
SEEKING SPACE
with over 200 local artists participating
kicking off the BOS 2017 weekend with their after-hours party
Friday, September 22, 7-10 pm
techno sounds by BUZZ
Beyond Studios
272 Siegel Street
https://artsinbushwick.org/events/seeking-space-2017-bos-official-group-art-show-kick-off-party/
Music To My Eyes
curated and hosted by Ellie Murphy
at her studio 1733 Menahan St., Ridgewood, Queens, NY 11385
September 22 - 24
CLOSING RECEPTION: Sunday, September 24, 4-8 pm
https://artsinbushwick.org/events/music-to-my-eyes-the-open-studio-show/
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_16, 2014,
ink, pigment, acrylic on yupo paper, 6 x 4 inches.
Maniac 5
September 6 - October 14, 2017
John Slade Ely Center for Contemporary Art
51 Trumbull Street
New Haven, CT 06510
www.elycenter.org
Ellen Hackl Fagan, What Does Blue Sound Like? and The Reverse Color Organ
Ellen Hackl Fagan, What Does Blue Sound Like? 2017, flourescent lights, plexiglas,
foamboard, 40 x 28 x 25 inches per window.
What Does Blue Sound Like?
Art in the Windows Exhibition Series
Curated by Arezoo Moseni
Dates: April 4- June 28, 2017 (On view day and night)
Mid-Manhattan Library Lobby Vitrines
455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Special event: Joseph Celli composer, radio producer and virtuoso on double reed; and Hap Tivey artist and an early pioneer in the California Light and Space movement; join Ellen Hackl Fagan for the Artist Dialogue Series event in the Corner Room of Mid-Manhattan Library on Saturday, April 29 at 2:30 PM.
Initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni in 2004, Artist Dialogue Series provide an open forum for understanding and appreciation of contemporary art. Artists are paired with critics, curators, gallerists, writers or other artists to converse about art and the potential of exploring new ideas.
The event is free and advanced registration is recommended.
The Art Collection at Mid-Manhattan Library presents the site-specific exhibition What Does Blue Sound Like by artist Ellen Hacki Fagan. This exhibition features the Reverse Color Organ (RCO) with an interactive web app that viewers can download to their iPhones or Droids. Their phones become a synaesthetic tool, enabling them to explore their own unique opinions about the sounds of colors.
ODETTA presents
Invocation
Dates: May 12 - June 18, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday May 12, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday June 11, 3 pm
Hartford Symphony Orchestra launches new contemporary ensemble series with Scribing the Void at Real Art Ways January 26 at 7 pm
It’s the Hartford Symphony Orchestra like you’ve never seen or heard us before! HSO is joining forces with Real Art Ways to present a concert that mixes music and art in a compelling new way with Scribing the Void, part of the HSO’s new contemporary ensemble series. The concert will take place on Thursday, January 26, at 7 pm at Real Art Ways. For concert information and tickets, visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Courtesy of ODETTA, Kurt Steger and RSM's original works will be transformed in this setting of orchestral sounds. In addition, Ellen Hackl Fagan's sensate paintings take deep blue to a new level. To learn more visit: Real Art Ways.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Abstraction, Color, and Sound
Date: Thursday, October 13, 6 – 8pm
Moderator: Jonathan Lippincott
Panelists: Barbara MacAdam, Ellen Hackl Fagan, Paul Corio
Learn more
Click here to participate: https://www.facebook.com/events/949322678505433/?active_tab=posts
ODETTA presents
River Woman
Dates: March 17 - April 30, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday March 18, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday March 26, 3:00 pm
A.I.R. Gallery
Space Craft
Curated by Liz Surbeck Biddle
Featuring works by Tomoko Abe, Liz Surbeck Biddle, Ellen Hackl Fagan, and Jackie Welsh
Dates: Opening reception Friday March 17, 6-8 pm. This exhibition runs thru April 16, 2017
https://www.airgallery.org
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue Spacecraft 2017
ink, acrylic, pigment on museum board 60 x 108
Real Art Ways
Into the Blue Again
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Big Blue_detail, 2016,
ink, pigment, acrylic on museum board, two boards measuring 48 x 96 inches each.
Dates: November 17, 2016 - February 19, 2017
Into the Blue Again, is a solo exhibition of Hackl Fagan's saturated blue paintings on paper. Exploring the nature of synaesthesia through immersive environments, Fagan works with a saturated blue pigment, and employs printmaking, and photo-gramming gestures. She positions the paintings as if they’re hovering, just barely off the floor, horizontally.
Real Art Ways , in Hartford, CT is mainstay institution in New England, at the forefront of alternative multidisciplinary arts and innovative exhibitions, now celebrating its 40th anniversary year. There are four galleries exhibiting artists' works, three solo exhibitions, and one group exhibition, curated by David Borawski. Kurt Steger's Scribing the Void, presented initially at ODETTA this past summer, is also a solo exhibition.
Real Art Ways is open daily 2-9 pm, and by appointment. Please refer to Real Art Ways for dates and detail of related events to take place during the run of this exhibition.
ODETTA presents
Thomas Lendvai
Dates: January 6 – February 26, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday January 6, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday February 12 at 3:00 pm
ODETTA presents
Bauhaus Babies
Dates: October 21 - December 18, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday Oct 22 from 6-9 pm
Event: Sluice Art Fair's Exchange Rates;
Oct 21-23 featuring London based artists Deb Covell and Brigitte Parusel of Saturation Point as our Flat File featured artists.
Artists Talk: Sunday December 4, at 3:00 pm
ODETTA presents
Debra Ramsay: HUE[S]PACE
Dates: September 9 - October 9, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday September 9, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday October 2, 3pm
ODETTA presents
Kurt Steger: Scribing the Void
Dates: July 7- Aug 21, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 7, 2016
With special guests: Original sound composition by RSM
Event: Hot Summer Nights, Friday July 15, 6-9 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday July 24 at 4:00 pm
Kurt Steger, Scribing the Void, 2016
ODETTA presents
Child's Play
Dates: Friday June 3, 6-8 pm
Opening Reception: Friday June 3, 6-8 pm
Event: Hot Summer Nights, Friday June 17 6-9 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday June 19, 4:00 pm
Eileen-Weitzman
The Reverse Color Organ
Creative Tech Week
April 29-May 22 at ODETTA
http://creativetechweek.nyc; http://odettagallery.com
and
FLUXFair_2016 in Marcus Garvey Park; Harlem, NY
May 3-31, 2016
http://fluxfair.nyc
Ellen Hackl Fagan, RCO
http://reversecolororgan.com
ODETTA presents
If This, Then What?
Dates: April 29 - May 22, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday April 29, 6-8 pm
Concert: Drone; Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 8-10 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday May 1, 3-5 pm
Jeff Becker Flag Privacy Archival Inkjet 13x19
ODETTA presents
Dates: March 18 and will run thru April 17
Opening Reception: Friday March 18, 6-8 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday, April 3 at 3 pm
Nancy Baker
Eating Mist-Detail, 2016, acrylic paint, archival digital prints mounted and glued on board, site specific installation, overall dimensions approximately 10 x 25 feet x 6 inches
Lazuli, Ground Floor Gallery,
Brooklyn, NY. Enrico Gomez, Curator.
February 11-28, 2016
Opening reception: Friday February 19, 6-9 pm.
Ground Floor Gallery 343 5th St., Brooklyn NY 11215
www.groundfloorbk.com
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_1966, 2016, ink, pigment on rag paper, 12 x12 inches
Disorder & Bliss, Space B,
Curated by Joseph Fucigna,
thru February 21, 2016
Above ODETTA, 229 Cook Street, 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11206
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Push, 2003, Acrylic, graphite, enamel on canvas, metal dowels, 58 x 72 inches
Space B at NCC, The Gallery at NCC, Norwalk, CT.
Curated by Susan Hardesty, Thru March 18, 2016
ODETTA presents
Heliotrope
Dates: January 15 thru March 6, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday January 15 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday February 14 3 pm
Jo Yarrington, Orchestrations – Detail, Site Specific Installation – Heliotrope, ODETTA, 2015, Vintage piano roles 1910 – 1925, Plexiglas, 12" width with varied lengths ranging from 4 ‘- 25’
ODETTA is located at 229 Cook Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206
www.odettagallery.com
Through the Rabbit Hole
Sideshow Nation IIII, Down the Rabbit Hole
Exhibition, Jan 9- March 20, 2016, Brooklyn, NY
Curated by Richard Temperio and Michael David.
http://www.sideshowgallery.com
G, 2012, ink, acrylic, enamel on clay board, 8 x 8 x 2 inches
Industrial Comforts
The Gallery at NCC, Norwalk, CT.
Thursday, Jan 21 – Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Artists Talk: Wed Feb 3, 6:30 pm
http://www.ncc.commnet.edu/aad/facilities/#galleries
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Tile Capture, 2015, ink, pigment, acrylic on rag paper, 54 x 48.5 inches
Big Small Show
The Drawing Rooms at Victory Hall,
December 12, 2015 - February 6, 2016
http://drawingrooms.org
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Yellow, 2014, ink, acrylic, pigment on rag paper, 5 x 4 inches
ODETTA presents
Kiosk
Friday Nov 13, 2015 thru January 3, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday November 13, 2015 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Artists Talk: Sunday, December 20, 2015 3 pm
Linda Cunningham
Engineering Avant-garde
ODETTA is located at 229 Cook Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206
www.odettagallery.com
INDUSTRIAL COMFORTS
Space B
229 Cook Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11206
Opening Reception: October 24 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Hours: Sunday October 25th 1:00- 4:00 pm, Friday October 30th 8:30 - 10:00 pm, Saturday October 31 1:00- 4:00 pm, Sunday November 1 1:00-4:00 pm, Saturday November 7 1:00- 4:00 pm, Sunday November 8 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Closing Party: Friday November 13th 8:00 - 10:00pm
https://www.facebook.com/bushwickspaceB?success=1
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Asphalt © 2015,
pigment, ink, acrylic, rag paper, asphalt roofing shingles, gaffers tape, ceramic tiles 96 x 108 inches
Shared Resources
Curated by Debbie Hesse
Perspectives......the Gallery at Whitney Center
Hamden, CT
Show dates: September 19, 2015- Jan 2, 2016
Reception: Saturday, September 19 from 3-5pm with talks from 2-3 pm
for more info/directions:
http://www.newhavenarts.org/category/perspectives/
MoleculesofMusic, 2014, ink, acrylic, enamel on clay board, 36 x 48 x 2 inches
Artwork is available on commission. Please contact the artist for more info: artistfagan@gmail.com