Majesty 2012

Aaron Nagel made this painting, Majesty, with a meticulous layering of oil paint. I mean, check out how he builds up the form, almost like he's sculpting with light. The way Nagel handles paint is interesting; it's both precise and suggestive, right? Like in the folds of the leather sofa, where the light catches, you can see the physical drag of the brush, tiny ridges that describe the texture. Then there’s that inscription in the background. It feels like a shadow, literally and figuratively, playing off the luminosity of the figure. Looking at this, I’m reminded of Lucian Freud, especially in the way Nagel captures the weight and warmth of the body, but with a contemporary twist that feels both classical and utterly now. It's a dialogue across time, another artist wrestling with seeing and representing.