“The
Listening Eye” Explores Visual Relationships
At MCCC Gallery Sept. 26-Oct. 28
9/15/05
| “The
Listening Eye,” featuring works by artists Ellen
Hackl Fagan, Chris Harford, and Julian Kernes,
will be on exhibition from Monday, Sept. 26 through Friday, Oct.
28 at The Gallery at Mercer County Community College. An Opening
Reception takes place on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 3 to 6 p.m. and a
Gallery Talk takes place Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. All events
are held at The Gallery, located on the second floor of the Communications
building on MCCC’s West
Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road, and are free and open
to the public.
According to Gallery Curator Tricia Fagan, each of the artists featured in The Listening Eye uses his or her “visual vocabularies” to explore relationships – between color and sound or object and design. “In his paintings, Chris Harford creates visual representations of some of the stories, subtexts, and emotional expression of his music. Julian Kernes goes the opposite way, abstracting fruit, swimming pools, or bridges into fractal impressions of themselves,” Fagan explained. Artist Ellen Hackl Fagan pushes the concept even further in a deliberate exploration of synaesthesia (the union of senses). “She generates textural, colorful pieces that drench your visual senses, and then turn your impressions on their head with an interactive ‘Reverse Color Organ’ that shifts colors and attaches sounds to whatever you focus on. In a culture of disjointed sensory overload, this exhibit will hopefully offer viewers an opportunity to explore some of these multi-sensory relationships in a more serene and playful environment,” Fagan said. Fagan notes that the "Reverse Color Organ" is an interactive project that Hackl Fagan developed in collaboration with New York City composer and sound designer Konrad Kaczmarek (see bio below) that allows viewers to explore the synthesis between sound and image. Hackl Fagan (Greenwich, CT) has long drawn on other art forms – including dance, music, and the written word – for inspiration in her art-making. Her current body of work has grown out of her 2005 MFA thesis exhibition at Hartford Art School, where she installed close to 200 paintings incorporating a seemingly endless variety of approaches and materials. Hackl Fagan has exhibited extensively in both solo and group shows. In addition to her work as an artist, she serves as a docent and educator for the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. Princeton native and current Lambertville resident Chris Harford is best known as a respected musician and songwriter who has been performing in bands since his days at Princeton High School, but he is also a gifted visual artist. A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, he draws inspiration for his paintings and drawings from multiple sources including folk artists of Eastern Europe and Haiti. He has exhibited his paintings at venues throughout the Northeast, and has continued his painting even during his busiest performing and recording periods. “I think painting provides me with a peace of mind that helps to balance the noisy chaos of my musical life,” Harford said. |
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| "Repeat"
by Ellen Hackl Fagan |
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| A
painting by Chris Harford |
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A
piece by Julian Kernes
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Painter, digital artist, and graphic designer Julian Kernes of Trenton works both figuratively and abstractly, drawing inspirations from nature and urban architecture. He is exhibiting his mandala-like paintings and collage pieces along with some recent abstracted print designs. Kernes, a graduate of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, is a prolific exhibitor in the region, and remains an active member of the Capitol City’s burgeoning art scene. He is a member and recent past president of the Board of the Trenton Artist Workshop Association (TAWA) and a member of several local art museums.
MCCC Gallery hours are: Monday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.; Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. and Friday, 9 to 11 a.m. This exhibit is funded, in part, by the Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commission through funding from the NJ State Council on the Arts and the Mercer County Board of Freeholders. For more information, call 609-586-4800, ext. 3589.
About the Reverse Color Organ:
The Reverse Color Organ (RCO) is an interactive device developed by Ellen Hackl Fagan and Konrad Kaczmarek that enables viewers to explore the nature of synaesthesia, or sensory blending, and to expand upon their understanding of how paintings communicate. It utilizes image recognition and audio playback software to create an interactive approach to viewing paintings. As the viewer points a web camera at a painting, the program triggers that image's particular audio loop – suggesting an aural equivalent. The viewer is now “playing” the RCO and is hopefully compelled to continue searching the wall for more visual/sonic relationships.
The ‘sonic palate’ includes music composed by Konrad Kaczmarek specifically for the paintings in the installation, along with “found” sounds and samples of popular music that are in some way linked to the images. Presently, the artist and composer determine the connections between the sonic palate and the visual palate, but they are continuing to work on the RCO, and hope to someday offer a vehicle that will give the viewer an even more active role in determining the relationships between the images and their sounds.
Konrad Kaczmarek,
composer, sound designer, and musician, lives in New York City. He holds
a B.A. in music from Yale University and a Masters in electronic music
composition from University of London, Goldsmiths. He works primarily
in interactive sound and video performance, which he also teaches at
Yale University, The New School University, and Harvestworks Studio
in New York.
