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Ellen Hackl Fagan

American, b. 1960

Ellen Hackl Fagan builds connections between color and sound using installations, interactive games, and collaborative projects that combine color-and-texture saturated paintings with music and digital technologies. Each installation invites viewers an opportunity to explore synaesthesia for themselves.

Balanced between randomness and intention, like jazz music, Fagan’s art continues to reveal limitless possibilities for improvisation. Saturation, accident, and the nature of the materials impose their own voice. Color seduces.

Blue is an invitation to get reckless.

Rich, powdery, dangerous, The Void.

Jumping off generates new information. Painting opens the door to life’s patterns. Echoing life’s chaotic beauty, her sources can be linked to pop music, Rimbault, Jungian psychology, the theory of correspondences, Minimalist and decorative art.

Fagan is the inventor of the Reverse Color Organ and the ColorSoundGrammar Game, two projects that enable viewers to interact aurally with color. In collaboration with web architect Joshie Fishbein, the Reverse Color Organ is a web app, downloadable to a smartphone, thus placing this synaesthetic tool into peoples’ hands to be used, not only to expand the language of color, but also as a crowd-sourced musical instrument.

Fagan exhibits her work extensively throughout New England and New York City. In 2014 she expanded her independent curatorial practice into a full-time business and is now the owner of ODETTA Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. There, she maintains her painting studio and is an active member of this vibrant arts community.

Find original Ellen Hackl Fagan paintings and drawings on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by ODETTA Gallery)

Styles
Abstract
Materials
Paint
Acrylic Paint
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Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_20 Moons, 2014, Enamel, Ink
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Ellen Hackl Fagan is an interdisciplinary abstract painter who believes that synaesthesia can be taught. Through interactive tools and crowd sourcing, Fagan is developing a correspo...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Enamel

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_20 Moons, 2014, Enamel, Ink

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_20 Moons, 2014, Enamel, Ink, 2014

H 40 in W 32 in D 2 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan_Technicolor Bubble Wrap II_2020_paint, ink, plaster
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue is a series of paintings and sculptures that have been created since the spring of 2014. Using domestic construction materials from her garage, extras from home improvement projects or the garden, have been captured, much like a photogram, but with paint, not silver. By blending photography and painting, Fagan finds that the patterns created with industrial, mass-produced objects around the house and garage, speak to her interest in producing paintings that link to sound. These works are portraits of the artist’s home, its history, and the materials used to build that maintain her home. Ellen Hackl Fagan builds connections between color and sound using installations, interactive games, and collaborative projects that combine color-and-texture saturated paintings with music...
Category

2010s Arte Povera Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Ink, Acrylic, Pigment, Plaster

Ellen Hackl Fagan_Technicolor Bubble Wrap II_2020_paint, ink, plaster
Ellen Hackl Fagan_Technicolor Bubble Wrap II_2020_paint, ink, plaster

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan_Technicolor Bubble Wrap II_2020_paint, ink, plaster, 2020

H 16 in W 10 in D 2 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Yellow Static I, 2017
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue is a series of larger paintings on 8 ply museum board and large sheets of rag paper that have been created since the winter of 2016. Using domestic...
Category

2010s Abstract Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Ink, Acrylic, Pigment, Rag Paper

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Yellow Static I, 2017

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Yellow Static I, 2017, 2016

H 44.5 in W 44.5 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Air Capture_2020_Color Field
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue is a series of larger paintings on 8 ply museum board and large sheets of rag paper and clayboard panels that have been created since the winter of 2...
Category

2010s Color-Field Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Acrylic, Pigment, Panel

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Air Capture_2020_Color Field
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Air Capture_2020_Color Field

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Air Capture_2020_Color Field, 2020

H 10 in W 8 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Doremi_Musicians-J, 2012, Ink, Gouache, Rag Paper
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
ColorSoundGrammar Ellen Hackl Fagan There is a long history of sound/color synaesthesia work, from Isaac Newton’s color organ to Alexander Scriabin’s “Prometheus,” but not much ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Ink, Gouache, Rag Paper

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Doremi_Musicians-J, 2012, Ink, Gouache, Rag Paper
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Doremi_Musicians-J, 2012, Ink, Gouache, Rag Paper

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Doremi_Musicians-J, 2012, Ink, Gouache, Rag Paper, 2012

H 8 in W 8 in D 1.5 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, RGB, 2011, ink, acrylic, Red abstract painting of music
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Ellen Hackl Fagan builds connections between color and sound using installations, interactive games, and collaborative projects that combine color-and-texture saturated paintings wi...
Category

2010s Color-Field Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Ink, Acrylic, Panel

Ellen Hackl Fagan, RGB, 2011, ink, acrylic, Red abstract painting of music
Ellen Hackl Fagan, RGB, 2011, ink, acrylic, Red abstract painting of music

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, RGB, 2011, ink, acrylic, Red abstract painting of music, 2011

H 8 in W 8 in D 2 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Molecules of Music, 2014, Enamel, Acrylic, Clay Board
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Ellen Hackl Fagan creates works of art focused on building a visual language. Molecules of Music is a large acrylic painting based on crowd sourced input of viewers pairing sounds from the Do Re Mi musical scale to colors. 260 people submitted their opinions on color to sound matches. Language is a recurring theme in Fagan's work, ranging from interactive, ColorSoundGrammar works to painting, sculpture, lost languages...
Category

2010s Abstract Geometric Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Enamel

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Molecules of Music, 2014, Enamel, Acrylic, Clay Board

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Molecules of Music, 2014, Enamel, Acrylic, Clay Board, 2014

H 36 in W 48 in D 2 in
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Oceanic Plastic, 2015
By Ellen Hackl Fagan
Located in Darien, CT
Ellen Hackl Fagan is an interdisciplinary abstract painter who uses synaesthesia, digital media and interactive performance as tools for developing a corresponding language between color and sound in her work. Focused in on the core concept in her abstract work, Fagan began creating a small series of works on paper titled “Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue.” This series has evolved into floor to wall installations of blue paintings on paper and on the floor that explore the nature of printmaking processes, texture and surface. Ellen Hackl Fagan is the inventor of The Reverse Color Organ and the ColorSoundGrammar Game, two projects that enable viewers to interact aurally with color. In collaboration with cognitive scientist Michael Cole...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Minimalist Ellen Hackl Fagan

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Archival Ink, Rag Paper, Pigment

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Oceanic Plastic, 2015
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Oceanic Plastic, 2015

Ellen Hackl Fagan
Ellen Hackl Fagan, Seeking the Sound of Cobalt Blue_Oceanic Plastic, 2015, 2015

H 44.5 in W 52 in
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Ellen Hackl Fagan art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ellen Hackl Fagan art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, purple, orange and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ellen Hackl Fagan in paint, acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Ellen Hackl Fagan art, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of KOKO HOVAGUIMIAN, Deborah Bigeleisen, and Kathleen Cammarata. Ellen Hackl Fagan art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $750 and tops out at $32,400, while the average work can sell for $2,640.

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