Graham Fagen (born 1966) is a Scottish artist living and working in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. He has exhibited internationally at th
Busan Biennale
South Korea (2004), the Art and Industry Biennial, New Zealand (2004), the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2003) and represented Scotland at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 in a presentation curated and organised b
Hospitalfield
In Britain he has exhibited at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

and the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

, London. In 1999 he was invited by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, London to work as the Official War Artist for Kosovo. His art practice encompasses video, performance, sculpture, sound and text. His work reflects on how contemporary identity and its associated myths and fictions, can be expressed and understood. and his portraits of real, imagined, historical and contemporary characters explore the idea of identity and performance in portraiture. Plants and flowers are recurrent motifs in his art, as he explores their ability to suggest various meanings: social, emotional, personal and national. Fagen is a professor at

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art schoo ...

, Dundee, Scotland. He has previously taught at

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, Perpignan School of Art, Perpignan, France, St. Martins School of Art, London, and

Kent Institute of Art & Design The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...

, Canterbury.

Introduction

Fagen's international exhibitions include the Venice Biennale (solo in 2015 and group presentation in 2003 both wit
Scotland + Venice
, Busan Biennale, South Korea and the Art and Industry Biennial, New Zealand. In Britain he has exhibited in

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...

, ''The Other Flower Show'' at the

and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and in 1999 was invited by the

, London to work as the Official War Artist for Kosovo. Main project collaborators include Hospitalfield, Arbroath; La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille,

, Glasgow,

, Edinburgh,

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

, Edinburgh; Tramway, Glasgow;

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

, Glasgow;

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the main gallery of contemporary art in Glasgow, Scotland. GoMA offers a programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops. GoMA displays work by local and international artists as well as addressing contempora ...

; The Changing Room Gallery, Stirling;

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

; Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art;

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The director of DCA is Beth Bate ...

; and Artpace, San Antonio.

Exhibitions and projects

In 2015 he represented Scotland at th
56th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
with a solo exhibition fo
Scotland + Venice
an official collateral event curated and organised b
Hospitalfield
This exhibition included new bronze, ceramic, steel and neon sculptures, Indian ink drawings and a 5 channel audio-video work within a series of rooms and a courtyard of Palazzo Fontana, which had previously never been used for an exhibition and is located on the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio district of Venice. During GENERATION - 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland, a programme of exhibitions across Scotland in 2014, Graham Fagen exhibited within several venues. He presented a solo exhibition of new works at The Glasgow School of Art entitle
''Cabbages in an Orchard; The formers and forms of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Graham Fagen''
In April 2012 Fagen presented a collaboration with theatre director Graham Eatough and photography director Michael McDonough entitled ''The Making Of Us'', which combined elements of performance, art installation and film, part reality TV and part scripted metafiction. It was conceived with Tramway and

. Other recent solo exhibitions include ''Missing'',

, commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, ''Under Heavy Manners'', Artpace, San Antonio, where he also formed a band with his fellow artist in residence Frank Benson and Artspace preparator Chad Dawkins His publications include: * ''Subversive On The Side Of A Lunatic'', The Henry Moore Foundation, 1999. * ''Botanica'', designed by Chris Evans, Grisedale Arts, 2002 * ''Love Is Lovely'',

Fruitmarket Gallery The Fruitmarket Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since its opening in 1974, the gallery has become part of the Scottish contemporary art scene. After a period of closure to undergo a significant renovation, the ga ...

, 2002 * ''Clean Hands Pure Heart'', Tramway, 2005 * ''Cabbages in an Orchard'',

, 2014 * ''Graham Fagen'',

Scotland + Venice Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and Hospitalfield, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagen, Graham 1966 births Scottish people of Irish descent Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Artists from Glasgow Academics of the Glasgow School of Art British war artists Scottish contemporary artists