Battle 2016

Aaron Nagel made this oil painting called ‘Battle’ sometime around now, and it really gets me thinking about the quiet dramas of life. Look at the way the figure emerges from that dark ground, it's almost cinematic. You can feel the artist building the form with light and shadow, almost like sculpting with paint, layer upon layer. There's a vulnerability there, but also a real strength, right? I wonder what Nagel was thinking about as he built up those layers, those delicate touches that bring skin to life. Painting is a battle sometimes, a struggle to make something real out of nothing, and Nagel here really captures that intensity and sense of conflict. I think he is in dialogue with some of the Old Masters, painters like Caravaggio, but bringing a modern sensibility to the party. It’s like he’s saying, yeah, we’re still wrestling with the same stuff, the same light and dark, the same human mess.