Biography

 

 

 

 

Of Anglo-Irish origin, Monica Fagan was born in Yorkshire and came to France at the age of 18 to study Fine Art in Rennes.

She has been painting since birth – perhaps since even before that. Her sound technique from the underpainting to the glazes upholds her subject matter just as grammar upholds vocabulary. Her painting is a language to express her “otherworld”.

A world of contrasts and contradictions, virginity and fecundity, symbolism and sensuality. To enter this world we must leave our masks on the waterside and take the keys she offers – invitations to penetrate and seek what she has jealously concealed. But we are not alone. The painting is inhabited. Shapes and objects become human. Musical instruments, rocks, stones and trees become female figures. She describes the transition of matter through water and over chequerboards, symbol of light and dark … duality and ambiguity … through shade to eternal light.

The relentless and ineluctable passing of time is also a leitmotiv in many of her paintings. Another dimension to her art is the creation of scenery and costumes for several operas which have been staged in theatres around Paris over the last twelve years.

Monica Fagan is a synesthete : she perceives letters, figures and musical tonalities in colour. This inborn sensitivity to colour plays and important part in all her creations, paintings and opera projects.