Date: Fri 27-Feb-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Hagen

Full Text:

Hagen At Sarah Morthland Gallery

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NEW YORK CITY -- The Sarah Morthland Gallery, 225 Tenth Avenue between 23rd

and 24th Streets in the Chelsea section, will host an exhibition of new color

photographs by Charles Hagen from March 12 to April 26.

Using his four-year-old daughter, Anna, as a primary subject, Hagen evokes a

child's world in which fantasy and reality are inextricably intertwined. His

large, brilliantly colored images explore the edge between theatrical tableaus

and intensely personal documentary photographs. In some of the pictures Anna

tries on masks and costumes as a way of acting out roles and donning personas,

while other photographs suggest the terror and allure of fairy tales.

Many of the images are set in Maine or upstate New York, with rocky

coastlines, dark forests and summery landscapes adding to the dreamlike

quality of the images. Still other photographs use overtly dramatic lighting

and composition to record ambiguous and often tense interactions with family

members.

Well-known as a critic, teacher, and editor, Charles Hagen has been a

photographer for over two decades. He was photography reviewer for The New

York Times from 1991 to 1996, and served as the editor of Aperture magazine

from 1988 to 1991. He was an editor and writer at Artforum in the 1980s, and

editor of Afterimage before that.

Hagen is currently head of the graduate photography program at Bard College

and also teaches video, photography and criticism at Cooper Union, New York

University and Pratt Institute.

Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am-6 pm, and Sunday, noon-5 pm. For

information, 212/242-7767.