1xRun Thru Interview
The Pale by Aaron Nagel
1xRun: Tell us a little bit about this original piece? Is the original still for sale?
Aaron Nagel: It was created last year for my solo show in October 2012. The original piece is 36″ x 48″, oil on canvas and it and it now lives happily with a collector in Australia.
1xRun: Tell us how the idea and execution came about?
Aaron Nagel: I did the reference photo shoot for this piece in a friends house in the Hollywood Hills. These particular shots were taken in front of large floor to ceiling windows during the day, so the natural light provided a pretty harsh backlight on the model. The combination of relatively cool natural light with the warmer light from my strobes is what attracted me to these two particular poses.
1xRun: How long did the piece take?
Aaron Nagel: A lot longer than usual, maybe a month or so — mostly due to my having never painted this type of lighting before, and the amount and variety of color created by the light on the figure.
1xRUN: When did you first start making art?
Aaron Nagel: I’ve been drawing since I was in kindergarten. I remember drawing a jet on a pillowcase we were making and being pretty excited about it. I can still draw it. I didn’t get into painting until my early twenties when I started experimenting in my garage and doing album art for bands. ( Below check out a behind the scenes look at the artwork for Gavin Castleton’s latest album done by none other than Aaron Nagel.)
1xRUN: What artists inspired you early on?
Aaron Nagel: Early on, H.R. Giger was my dude, and I really liked Alphonse Mucha.
1xRUN: What artists inspire you now?
Aaron Nagel: This list is endless, but here’s a few: Rembrandt, Ingrés, Pasini, Sargent, Jenny Saville and Sean Cheetham. (See Aaron’s blog where he writes about seeing works of several of these artists on his site.)
1xRUN: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what?
Aaron Nagel: Actually, never. I listen to audiobooks, always have.
1xRUN: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be?
Aaron Nagel: Damien Hirst — then I could presumably fund the rest of my art career and go back to working by myself (and speaking ill of Mr. Hirst and his “art”).
1xRUN: If you could collaborate with any deceased artists who would it be?
Aaron Nagel: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. (See Aaron’s blog post about his recent trip to Chicago and Ingres here)
1xRUN: What else have you been you been up to lately?
Aaron Nagel: I just am coming off my first New York solo show, so I am enjoying some downtime from that and getting ready to work on some new pieces.
1xRun: What is your schedule looking like for 2013 so far?
Aaron Nagel: I have one new piece in the Shooting Gallery Winter Group show in San Francisco January 12th. other than that, I’ll be hard at work in the beginning stages of the next series.
1xRun: Where else can people find you?
Aaron Nagel: Website – Blog – Instagram @aaronnagel
-1xRUN