Erik Hagen examines contemporary natural resource issues and explores the notion of geologic time relative to human history. Describing his recent artwork Hagen said, “When people see my mixed media paintings and wall relief sculptures, I’d like them to feel wonder at being alive in this short miracle of time that we have on the planet.”

Hagen was born on May 22, 1967, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He studied art and art history at Carleton College (BA) and won a post-graduate art residency at Carleton for one year. Hagen also has degrees in environmental engineering and water resources management from the University of Washington (BSCE, MSCE). He continued to create art while pursuing a career in water-resources engineering and policy analysis in Washington DC. In 2008, he moved to The Hague where he worked on a book and art exhibit called “Exploring Beauty,” collection of essays and portraits investigating conceptions of self and beauty. The solo exhibition toured cities in The Netherlands and in Belgium. His solo exhibition at AAAS gallery in Washington DC, “Fossils of the Anthropocene,” was reviewed by the Smithsonian online and by local newspapers in 2014.

Hagen moved to Houston in 2012 where he has been an active member of the Houston arts scene. He is Vice President of the Houston Visual Arts Alliance and serves on its Exhibitions Committee. He organizes curated exhibitions at the Silos as a member of the Artist Advisory Committee for Sawyer Yards in Houston, an artist collective with more than 300 members. Hagen has been a featured artist on Houston Artblog 713, which showcases emerging artists of the Houston area and where his work received a strong “buy” recommendation.