Espen Hagen - Dangerous Dancing

Espen Greger Hagen (Trondheim, 1964 Amsterdam, 10 April 2008) was a Norwegian painter. He spends a large part of his childhood in Tanzania. In 1980, he studied drawing in his hometown and subsequently studied painting and sculpture at the Emily Carr College in Vancouver. After studying in Vancouver, Hagen studied painting and sculpture at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where he graduated in 1990. During, and after, his studies abroad has always attracted Espen. He regularly makes long treks through North America and Mexico. During these trips Espen makes portraits of the striking North American Indians and the indigenous Mexican population. Espen Hagen has been working closely with his friend Herman Brood since the mid-1990s. Espen exhibits twice in cafe Dante, once together with Brood. In 1997 they also exhibit together again, this time in the Arsenal of Jan des Bouvrie in Naarden. Due to their regular joint performance and the many canvases they produced together, Espen Hagen is often referred to as Herman Brood's successor. Espen Hagen was seen as the coming man in Dutch painting. Thanks to the frequent exhibitions at home and abroad and his regular television appearances, the star of this talented artist was rising strongly. The Norwegian, who was living in Amsterdam at the time of his death, died of cardiac arrest on April 10, 2008.