Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue?

“Barnett Newman’s Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue, created in 1966, was a challenge in response to Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee, in turn, was responding to the song Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf from a Walt Disney cartoon in the early 1930s. While fear is a constant when approaching new concepts in art, I regularly confront Newman’s challenge when entering a new studio space. To familiarize myself with a new environment, I often step outside of my current series to create a related series of paintings using red, yellow, blue, and black. This practice helps alleviate any fears about the new space and allows me to get into the painting groove more effectively.

When jurying this exhibition for Long Island City Artists, I encountered a vibrant enthusiasm for color and the inherent joys and challenges of making art where color is a primary element.

With over five-hundred entries, I had to narrow the selection down to fewer than seventy to fit the space. Judging and selecting these works was a challenging task due to the abundance of innovation, fearlessness, humor, and originality present.

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating color and experimentation as you view the exhibition, which features painting, sculpture, and digital prints. I felt a profound sense of belonging to this community of color-loving artists. I want to extend my gratitude to all who applied to the exhibition; making my decisions was not easy.” - Ellen Hackl Fagan

The artists on view include: Ricardo Arango, Daniel Arenas, Angelica Bergamini, Richard Bottwin, Michele Brody, Bentley Brown, Andrea Burgay, Xan Cambeiro, Barbara Campisi, Sean Casey, Luzia Castaneda, Helena Chastel, Robert Convery, John Cox, Elisa Decker, Karen Kettering Dimit, Vincent Dion, Simon Donikian, Lenuta Donikian, Cynthia Egle-Grant, Klay-James Enos, Yelitza Galan, George Goodridge, Jerry Gonzalez, Norma Greenwood, Miranda Greiner,    Jacob Hartman, Tayo Heuser, Adam S Hoch, Taylor Homme, Lee Jensen, Kevin Kelly, John Kitses, Chris Klapper + Patrick Gallagher, Ellen Mandelbaum, John Manno, Michael Manning, Donnelly Marks, Andy Mazzella, Margaret McCann, Gail Meyers, William Norton, Tamara Novikova,  Will Pappenheimer, Alejandro Pinzon, Jack Ready, Joan Reutershan, Margaret Roleke,Julia Roshkow, Jane Sangerman, Sylvia Schwartz, Saki Sonoda, Edwin Weitz, Jennifer Welsh, Leah Woods, Jo Yarrington, and Lisa Zilker.

Ellen Hackl Fagan has been featured in over 30 solo, and numerous group, invitational, and juried exhibitions in the greater New York metropolitan area and Northeast. Fagan has works included in permanent public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Her work has recently been the full color feature in print in Post Road Vol. #37 Winter issue 2021. She has been the subject of multiple interviews both on the air and online including WBYX’s radio program out of Yale University, and the New York Public Library’s Artist Interview series. Known widely for her generosity in offering artists opportunities, Fagan is also a fluent and experienced curator; as creator and director of ODETTA, www.odettagallery.com, she has curated and produced over 80 exhibitions showcasing well over 250 artists. Fagan maintains her studio and curatorial practice in New York City, Connecticut, and Indianapolis, Indiana.

About LIC-A (Long Island City Artists) LIC Artists, Inc. is a non-profit arts advocacy organization founded by artists and incorporated in 1986 in Long Island City.  LIC-A's Gallery space is generously donated by the Factory LIC. Its members are professional artists from Long Island City as well as elsewhere in Queens. LIC-A's programs are enabled largely through the volunteer work of member artists and supported by grants and donations. LIC-A is committed to broadening its community of artists, and expanding the audience for art produced in Queens through exhibitions, classes, and special projects and events. 

For additional images/information, please contact Norma Homberg at info@licartists.org.