Patricia Hagen: Biophilia Walk-Through

Psychologist, Erich Fromm, first used the word biophilia in 1964, when he described it as “the passionate love of life and all that is alive”. The concept also includes a great urge or craving to connect with other living things. Patricia Hagen, when not in her studio painting, spends time exploring and hiking near her home on the Olympic Peninsula. She just recently discovered the word that describes what she feels when she is in the natural world. Hagen's lovingly painted landscapes are unusual in that we often see a person in them. The person is in nature, observing or communing, sometimes dwarfed by the setting, the grandness. There is a delicate balance with human life injected into a scene where wild life is the only other presence. The figure may be autobiographical, or a kind of every-woman. Destruction and regrowth are both depicted. There is both intimacy, and witnessing taking place. There is solitude but never alone-ness here. The deep connection is what Hagen is reminding us of.
"Landscape is a universal language. Its images evoke a range of emotions, tapping into shared human experiences that transcend verbal expression. The beauty and force of the natural world, simultaneously comforting and formidable, serve as the foundation for my exploration. My artistic journey delves into the landscape as a window through which to consider our existence and our inter-connectedness with the world. The work navigates the grounding and calming elements found in nature, juxtaposed against the unsettling signs of human intervention and exploitation."
Patricia Hagen, 2024