Logan Maxwell Hagege (pronounced Ah-jejj)

Logan Maxwell Hagege (b. 1980) is a Los Angeles based contemporary artist with modern visions of the west. The paintings of Hagege exhibit all the hallmarks of his classical art training from an academy in Southern California, a modern-day atelier, in which students refined their skills by drawing and painting live models every day for years.

Yet, it is in the artist’s departures from strict realism where his work now draws its strength and where his vision is fed by a heady mix of nature and imagination. A power born of observation, recollection and creative inspiration imbue Hagege images of the American Southwest. He is arguably one of the most adept artistic narrators telling and re-telling a modern story of a hauntingly beautiful desert land.

Hagege’s mature style, which he terms “stylized realism,” has made him a master of geometric design where angles and edges are softened by the curve of billowing clouds. His signature clouds often mimic the shapes of the blanketed figures in the foreground, creating visual roadmaps for the viewers, further adding to the design, and narrative of each composition.

What is seen in Hagege’s paintings are the elements of a region and its inhabitants that may go all but unnoticed by the casual observer. His mastery of light is faithful to colors and shapes that exist in nature but whose forms and hues have been stripped to their essence to reveal and to celebrate their complexity. The artist is directed by an inner voice that speaks of a kind of artistic alchemy in which the purity and perfection of nature can be referenced – in paint – for an eternity. There is no mistaking an Hagege image, just as there is no equivalent for the emotion it can evoke.

“It’s my vision of the world; that’s where it starts and that’s where it ends,” he says.

An inventive yet disciplined artist, Hagege is an accomplished musician, former competitive surfer, a husband and a father. Today, Hagege travels extensively to cultivate inspiration and to deepen his relationship with his subjects and with the culture of the land. He produces field studies on location near a home in remote northern Arizona where the landscape – in the form of red cliffs, towering clouds and cerulean sky – is among his guides. Those works inform the pieces he later creates in his studios in Ojai, California and Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona.

In a mark of the artist’s mounting critical and commercial success, Hagege’s works are part of the permanent collections of such ranking institutions as the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, California; the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia; the Cal Poly Pomona University Collection in Pomona, California; the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art in St. Petersburg, Florida; the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Scottsdale Museum of the West in Arizona, among others.

Select Museum Collections:

Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN

Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, Scottsdale, AZ

The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL

Briscoe Museum of Western Art, San Antonio, TX

Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, GA

Cal Poly Pomona, Don B. Huntley Gallery, Pomona, CA

Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, David City, NE

Source/Submitted by: Beau Alexander

In 2003, Logan Hagege traveled to Cape Cod to explore the views of the Atlantic and to study and paint in the same places as some of his favorite artists such as Frank Weston Benson.

Hagege, who lives in Southern California, is known for his figurative seascapes and beach scenes, and in Cape Cod explored the mood of the ocean and the changes of the seasons. The ocean views from the Cape seem to go on forever giving the viewer a sense of loneliness and wonderment about the sea.

In Cape Cod, Hagege also saw a change in his palette to more muted tones, notably different from his bright colorful views of the beach in California.

Hagege paints to express the feelings of the landscape, "If I could put feelings into words I would be a poet. But I am a painter and express feelings through pigment."

Source:
Bonnie Gangelhoff, "On Hiatus in Hyannis", Southwest Art, January 2004

Logan Maxwell Hagege, b. 1980, Los Angeles, California, (United States)

Logan Hagege's interest and ability in fine art were evident early on. Traditionally trained in a local Los Angeles classic atelier program, his studies involved spending more than six hours per day drawing and painting live models. Hagege also studied privately with Steve Huston and Joseph Mendez.

Inspiration for his subjects began at an early age with visits to his grandmother who lived in the California desert. Extensive travels and extended stays in various landscapes in the American Southwest also contributed to his repertoire of subjects. Hagege's evolution from landscape to figure and now a combination of both was a natural progression in his art. The American Southwest comes to life in angular images that capture the spare beauty of an arid landscape and of an ancient and enduring Native American culture shaped by the extremes of its environment.

Education:
• Associates in Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1999-2001
• Steve Huston, Private Study, Los Angeles, CA, 1999-2001
• Joseph Mendez, Private Study, Los Angeles, CA, 1999-2001

Selected Exhibitions:
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Prix de West, , Oklahoma City, OK, 2014
• Briscoe Western Art Museum, Night of Artists, TX, 2013,2014
• Autry National Center, Masters of the American West, Los Angeles, CA, 2013,2014
• Phoenix Art Museum, The West Select, Phoenix, AZ, 2013
• Eiteljorg Museum, Quest for the West, Indianapolis, IN, 2013

Selected Press:
• Western Art & Architecture, February/March, 2014
• Southwest Art Magazine, July, 2013
• Western Art Collector, Cover, December, 2012
• Art of the West
• American Art Collector

Selected Collections:
• Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
• Briscoe Museum of Western Art. San Antonio, TX
• Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, GA
• Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, NE
Awards:
• Autry National Center, Gene Autry Memorial Award, Masters of the American West, Los Angeles, CA, 2014
• Coors Western Art Show, Artist's Choice Award, Denver, CO, 2012

Logan Maxwell Hagege excels in depicting the human figure and landscapes, drawing inspiration for his subjects from his native Southern California, as well as his extensive travels to view various landscapes in the American Southwest and the Northeast Coast of the United States.

Hagege had an early interest in animation and was encouraged to enroll in a local art school, Associates in Art. His interest quickly moved from animation to fine art while attending life drawing classes. Hagege later entered the Academy`s Advanced Masters Program, which was modeled after French Art Schools where students spend more than six hours each day studying live models. Hagege also studied privately under artists Steve Huston and Joseph Mendez.

Hagege finds encouragement and guidance in masters of the past such as Gustav Klimpt, N.C. Wyeth, T.W. Dewing and Maynard Dixon. His work is driven by the belief that evolution in art is never ending and he constantly challenges himself to come up with new ideas and new ways of looking at the same subject.

Hagege is a member of The Society of American Artists.

Logan Hagege is an artist who depicts the figure and landscapes. Serious study in art started for Logan when early interest in animation sent him to a local art school, Associates in Art. His interest quickly moved from animation to fine art while attending life drawing classes, and later the Academy`s Advanced Masters Program, which was modeled after the old time French Art Schools where students spent more than six hours per day studying from live models. Logan also studied privately under Steve Huston and Joseph Mendez.

This artist has drawn inspiration for his subjects from his native Southern California as well as by traveling extensively to view various landscapes in the American Southwest and the Northeast Coast of the U.S.

Logan finds encouragement and guidance in masters of the past such as Gustav Klimpt, N.C. Wyeth, T.W. Dewing and Maynard Dixon. One idea that drives Logan`s work is that evolution in art is never ending. He is constantly challenging himself with new ideas and new ways of looking at the same subject.

At only 22 years old, Logan Hagege has already established himself in the Contemporary California Impressionist Movement. He is as a member of Oil Painters of America, and a Mentor Member of the California Art Club. This year (2002) he received an honorable mention award at the California Club''s 8th Annual Mission San Juan Capistrano Paint-Out.

Since studying at the L.A. Art Academy, Logan has devoted his time to painting his native Southern California, as well as subjects from his travels across America and Europe. He finds encouragement and guidance in master artists from the past such as Fechin, Sargent, Sorolla, Benson, and Zorn, as well as modern day masters such as Joseph Mendez, Steve Huston, Scott Burdick, Dan McCaw, and John Asaro.

Logan''s painting is driven by the never-ending process of art, and quotes one of his favorite artists, Nicholas Fechin, who said "Art, like the whole of our life, submits to the eternal law of change, and any attempts to stop it at one particular level are like vain efforts to stop time itself."