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more info and a press release here: http://shootinggallerysf.com/artists/aaron-nagel/
I Spent 4 hours last night painting text…and my wrist is killing me right now. I recently ordered a bunch of dual-language books so I don’t have to scour the internet for content so much anymore. I’m really enjoying using the text behind the figure, it gives the pieces a balance that I haven’t been able to give them any other way, and adds depth too boot. Now I have Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian, a bunch of classic Latin stories from forever ago, and even a book in Russian. The fact that I can’t read any of these languages adds just the right amount of distraction from the main figure in my paintings…probably something that wouldn’t quite work with english.
a new black hand
I’ve been doing almost nothing but painting for weeks now. very few social interactions at all, dirty house, neglected work, pending taxes, happy cat, etc. I’m making progress, although I’m working on 3 paintings at a time right now, which means they all seem to be crawling towards completion. unsurprisingly I’ve decided I may not want to include one or two older ones in the show and instead have nice shiny brand new ones…that are nowhere near done. keep in mind, that in my painting world, “old” is creeping in around the 6 month mark. but a solo show takes almost a year to paint you say? I guess that means i’m improving, in my own head at least.
So, I’m still on #10 and #11 (black hand above), and am into prep on #12. I doubt I have time to get that last one done, it’s 36″ x 48″ and will have lots of type, but I’m going to do my best.
Last week I started doing the press for the show with the people at the Shooting Gallery…exciting. I’ll have the flyers and such posted on here this week, I think they came out great.
The show will be called “MARKS”, as in:
a target, and a sign or indication of a quality or feeling, and a small area on a surface having a different color from its surroundings, typically one caused by accident or damage.
all very fitting I think.
more very soon.
tired painter, stoked cat
I thought I’d include a little bit on the prep for a painting, as it can often take as long as the painting itself. scheduling models is really hard for the most part. I have some friends that I can always depend on for good shoots, which I’m so grateful for. finding new faces is a huge pain most of the time, but every once in a while I’ll find a willing model and things just work out…in which case I usually try and paint them multiple times. lately I’ve been renting strobes so I have some options with shadows and highlights. It makes the final painting look much more dynamic and really helps with the realism. I usually shoot in my living room, which is so small that I have to put lights in a hallway and actually stand in the kitchen in order to get a good shot. I pin an old black sheet to the wall for a backdrop.
I usually take upwards of 400+ pictures, so sorting through them all can take forever. here’s 4 top picks for painting #11 for the show in March.
First off, happy new year. my 2009 was horrible; with the exception of painting, just about everything else totally blew up in my face. After such a bad year (which shall now be referred to as “oh nein”), I was looking forward to this next decade with urgency…and, so far so good.
a little peek at #9
Now that it’s January, my solo show in March is coming up REAL fast. I just finished up painting #9, i’m half way through #10, and planning the next 3 or 4. that might be a touch ambitious, but I’d really like to have at least 12 new paintings up at the Shooting Gallery.
I’ve done very little varnishing and most of the pieces still have ugly white edges (I usually just paint them black if they’re not framed, which they probably won’t be). I haven’t named the show or most of the paintings for that matter, but I’m getting on it. I do know that the reception will be Saturday March 6th, so mark your calendars.
bye bye oh nein
I’m just finishing painting #9 for the show in March. #10 is on it’s way back from the East Coast unfinished and I’m shooting for 3-4 more by the end of Feb. a little ambitious I think, but I’m on a mad scramble for photoshoots and hopefully I can have enough content together within the next few weeks. that will put me at 13-14 pieces for the Shooting Gallery (for those who need lots of forewarning, opening reception is March 6th, 2010).
I’m heading down to LA for New Years and to get in a few photoshoots down south so If I don’t post before, happy new year! aside from the painting, I’ve had the worst year ever and can’t wait for it to be over. here’s to a healthy and happy 2010.
I recently got my first batch of new prints for “a swan among ducks”. they look great, and at 27″ x 22″, they’re the biggest prints I’ve made so far. This painting was in my show at RedLetter1 last April, and will most likely be included in my show at the Shooting Gallery (although it now lives in Florida with Phil Holt and family). This will be a limited edition of 20 prints, signed and numbered, and they’re available now here.
other than the prints, I’m painting painting painting…and procrastinating on everything else.
On Saturday, I hit Art Basel at the Miami Convention Center…another world entirely. The place was super crowded and filled with so many galleries that after an hour I was overwhelmed and totally lost. I saw some great stuff there too, but there was a much higher percentage of stuff that just didn’t do it for me at all. I was really surprised by the amount of galleries using all their booth space for some super conceptual minimalist installation or sculpture of some kind, especially because I’m sure they’re shelling out ridiculous money for the space. and that’s another thing, there was a LOT of money there…mostly in the form of older couples dressed like they were going to a fancy party on a yacht, walking around discussing which 6 figure piece they must have. Not that I would complain one bit if my work was on their radar (and in that price range, holy crap), but it was interesting seeing a side of the art world where people are seriously investing in very expensive art. Some stuff I liked:
sweet gangster pencil drawing
awesome Chuck Close sculpture thing
trippy photorealistic sculpture
sweet painting!
Mike Shine, Jacob Gossel, Jillian, Chris, Tony, Greg Gossel, Casey Gray, Nagel
This Saturday I’ll have a piece in the WhiteWalls winter group show. There’s some great artists participating and to top if off, Travis Louie will be having a solo show right next store at the Shooting Gallery. fun! I’m especially excited to see pieces from the Clayton Brothers, Mercedes Helnwein, and Anthony Lister. I’ll be heading out and if you’re in the area, try and stop by.
"the Call" gets a coat of varnish
After almost two weeks at my dads in Mass., I took a quick trip down to Miami to join the Shooting Gallery crew at Art Basel. While I’ve been to Miami a few times in the past, I was pretty unprepared for the sheer amount of art I saw in such a short period of time. The whole city turns into an art gallery; with the main Art Basel fair at the convention center, and a million satellite fairs of various sizes spread all over the place. That compared with the usual weirdness that is Miami; 90ยบ weather in December and beautiful people dressed terribly, made for an exhausting few days.
I spent a lot of time wandering around Aqua, where The Shooting Gallery (and Whitewalls) setup shop. They had a brand new piece of mine on display and I often got to overhear what people thought of it, as most just assumed I worked for the gallery. It was slightly voyeuristic and very interesting…people sure like to talk about boobs. I met a few of artists I’m huge fans of (Eric White and David Kassan to name a few), and even got to talk a little shop…a treat for me since I haven’t had too much contact with other figurative artists, especially those experienced and knowledgeable enough to teach. About a half mile from Aqua Art Fair was Scope, which was about 4 times as big and had some really good work, most from artists I hadn’t heard of before (not that I’m at all knowledgeable about who’s who in contemporary art, but finding so much new stuff I actually liked was great).
Here’s a few highlights from the Aqua and Scope fairs:
Casey, Jillian, Leigh, and Lauren at the WhiteWalls booth
art in the bkgd: nas chompas, shawn barber, jesse hazelip, and me… (will post a final pic of that one soon)
James Jean
Jeff Soto
Tony Curanaj
Piet van den Boog
Piet van den Boog
Yigal Ozeri - the most photorealistic oil painter i've ever seen
I’ll have more from Art Basel and Miami up within the next few days. thank you for checking in! – a