NAGEL

Art blog Warholian.com posted some great pictures and a very kind review of the show here. I’ve re-posted the review below, but please check out the rest at Warholian.com. I’ll add some more pictures of the opening to the blog very soon.

Aaron Nagel is one of the most refined, intricate painters in the realm of contemporary realism today.   Abstract elements such as black, tar dipped hands – or arrows that penetrate the body, are oft incorporated into his work.  To be a female painted by Nagel is of the highest honor, immortalized by oil, captured in the purest form.  The artist renders his subjects accurately in technique, but strives to make them icons, if not saints.

It is within this attitude that Nagel has created his latest body of work entitled “A Thin Line” for the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco.  His females find themselves laid bare, sometimes adorned and surrounded by Old English style letters, in homage to the very bodies they inhabit.  Often people ask if Nagel’s work has religious connotations – which can be understood when looking at many of the elements within the paintings – but after careful examination, it is clear that the spiritual nature of his work is derived from simply making the feminine divine.

“A Thin Line” is a different show than we’ve seen from Nagel in the past – his realism has loosened in technique, but still captures the “tight” painting style for which he has been known.  The artist finds himself in a place where he doesn’t necessarily want to be labeled as a “realist”, but also seeks to find the freedom to be “loose” and “painterly”.  Thus, this is the “Thin Line” that Nagel finds himself standing within – the crossroads – letting go of realist ideals, and creating something entirely new.  We are presented with work that captures all the realist elements we have come to love from Nagel, while incorporating loose brushstrokes that still are placed methodically.  It is within these new brushstrokes that we are beginning to see something new: Nagel himself.

Overall, a wonderful new body of work from Nagel… we highly suggest checking it out.

- Michael Cuffe for Warholian

Art blog Arrested Motion covers the opening last weekend. Check it out here. I’m sure more coverage will trickle in this week so I’ll add them as I get ‘em.

All the paintings* from my solo show are now online on the portfolio page.  Thank you for being patient! I want to also thank all who made it out to the opening last night at the Shooting Gallery, it was a great turnout and a really good time. I was totally overwhelmed by all the kind things people had to say about the work. thank you again!

I’ll be posting show photos as soon as I have ‘em, but until then, enjoy the new work…and always, thank you so much for the support –  this art thing is crazy hard, and would be totally impossible without your help and support.

best, a

*well, almost all. one portrait is still missing (“Royalty V”) as I was working on it up until the last minute and didn’t have a chance to get it professionally shot. I’ll add it as soon as I do. until then, here’s a shot of it before it went up on the wall.

I went to sleep at 7am this morning. Not too much later than my usual 4am, but that late, 3 hours makes a huge difference. usually, when I start to hear showers start going on in my building, I need to go to sleep. I was back at the gallery at 1 today though with the rest of the paintings, and surprisingly not too tired or stressed. so now, all the work is at the gallery. finally. I’ve been working on this show for the better part of 6 months.  It’s a relief to be done (and I’m really excited to clean my apartment now that I don’t have paintings covering every bit of floor and wall space.

Tomorrow we hang the show.

had enough of me blabbing yet? if not, I did another short Q&A with Shooting Gallery earlier this week. you can find it here: http://www.shootinggallerysf.com/blog/2011/06/a-converstaion-with-aaron-nagel/

Aside from the blabbings, i’ve been running around all week prepping for the show — lots of varnish, lots of fumes. I took 7 paintings to Shooting Gallery today and will take the rest over tomorrow when we’ll actually start hanging. I like this part, and am very much looking forward to having all the work there and ready to go. I’ll post some pictures of the install. so far, I’m a lot more relaxed than I was leading up to the show last year. that will probably change, but i’m feeling good so far.

As I mentioned in previous posts, the show will consist of a series of portraits in addition to my usual larger work. here’s the second of the series:

"royalty II" ~24" x 30", oil on panel, 2011

I had the pleasure of hosting Meighan from the excellent contemporary art blog, “My Love For You” for a studio visit last week. We also did a short Q&A. Super fun visit and she asked some good questions! Check it out here. Thanks Meighan!

Continue reading →

Welcome to the new site! It’s real basic, something i’ve been favoring lately – and it’s without Flash (so all the iPhone and iPad users can actually see it). the ‘Portfolio’ can now be sorted by date, which is fun (right?), and the images are way bigger. there’s still some bugs and i’m gradually going to keep fixing things, but wanted to get it up before the show. I decided on this re-haul last weekend after I realized how ill-equipped the old site was for all the new work, and predictably added a ton to my plate during a very hectic few weeks. But it’s done-ish, and I hope it works for you. feel free to send me an email if you notice anything totally screwy. (I lot of the old blog entries need some image adjusting so those look a little unseemly, but I’ll get to it one of these days).

My solo show at Shooting Gallery is fast approaching, so i’ve spent the last few days taking paintings in to get photographed, paintings edges, varnishing, and generally making things presentable. So far it’s looking like I will have 15 new pieces, including a smaller one I just started Tuesday (cutting it way close, but I feel like it needs to be included, and I seem to enjoy stressing myself out). I’ve been taking as many photos as I can so I’ll start posting sneak peeks on the site right away — I hope to have a new one up every day or so.

more very soon. thank you as always for reading and for the support,
a

PS. I made this new combination pallet/paint stand. It’s a used window I found at urban ore stacked on top of my old paint stand. i’m pretty stoked on it, this is a picture of it’s maiden voyage.

"the calming" - 58" x 40", oil on canvas, 2010

And we’re officially in show prep mode. I’ve barely come up for air this last month and i’m going to be painting and generally overworking myself right up until show time. Show info is in that graphic up top, right above the show piece, “the calming”. [the Shooting Gallery site is here] It’s big. come see it in person June 11. There will be 10-14 others!

I’m going to start posting preview and in-progress shots very soon, but before then, I may take the blog down and rebuild it…along with the entire website. no idea how I’m going to fit it in, but it needs a refresh and there’s not really enough room for all the new pieces. so if there’s a coming soon page up (likely on the blog first, shortly followed by some main site downtime), that’s why.