Lisa 1983

Patrick Nagel made this untitled painting of Lisa sometime before 1984 with airbrush on board. Nagel's pictures are so interesting to me; he seems to be thinking about graphic design as much as painting. Look at how flat and opaque the colour is and how little blending there is. Everything is so clear, precise, and controlled. That line around the eye, so economical but so descriptive, it's really something else. It's a thin line, but it gives the whole painting its form. Nagel takes cues from artists like Alex Katz, but he also seems to anticipate digital art, like what you can do in Illustrator or Photoshop. It would be interesting to see this re-created as a vector drawing. Ultimately, Nagel reminds us that painting doesn't have to be messy or gestural. It can be clean, precise, and still convey feeling.