Check out an in depth Q&A with Aaron in Creep Machine’s latest interview where he talks about music vs. painting, religion, nudity and of course his latest print “The Calming” available at 12pm EST on 1xRUN.com Read on for our own short interview along with some videos and photos. Here’s a teaser from Creep Machine’s great in-depth interview with Aaron which you can read here.
Creep: Can you tell us a bit about this image and the creation of it?
Aaron Nagel: The concept behind “The Calming” was a long time coming. I’d been painting my models hands for a while but had always wanted to experiment with conveying some sort of vaguely religious symbolism with that paint. Logistically, I had to wait until the right time to attempt it though. It required a model willing to let me paint her torso with quite a… See the full Creep Machine interview here.
Read on to see a video profile of Aaron along photos of past works and our short interview.
Warholian Profile : Aaron Nagel Courtesy of Aaron Nagel/Warholian
1xRUN: When was “The Calming” drawn/created?
Aaron Nagel: The winter of 2010.
1xRUN: Tell us how the idea and execution of this print came about?
Aaron Nagel: I was preparing for a solo show in San Francisco so I had to delay any print release, but I’ve always wanted to make a print of “The Calming” so it seemed like now was the time.
1xRUN: How long did the piece take?
Aaron Nagel: The original piece took about a month, pretty quick considering the scale…but I remember it being pretty smooth. Not much wrestling with this one.
Aaron Nagel: This piece is one of the largest depictions of the figure I’ve done. At 58″ tall, it’s about 1.5x life-size. It’s also the first and only time (so far), I’ve taken the cross imagery onto the body of the model.
Aaron Nagel: I’d buy one. I think it’s nice.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.)
Aaron Nagel: Early on, H.R. Giger was my dude, and I really liked Alphonse Mucha.
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.)
Aaron Nagel: Actually, never. I listen to audiobooks, always have.
1xRUN: If you could collaborate with any deceased artists who would it be?Aaron Nagel: I just came off a year of shows, over 20 pieces, so I’m taking some time to work on new ideas and practice. I’ll probably then start planning for my next solo at some point next year, but in the meantime. I can’t wait to just paint for the sake of painting.
Read more from Aaron in the latest Creep Machine interview here.
Available Jan. 10th at 12pm EST on 1xRUN
-1xRUN