fifteen 2014

Aaron Nagel made this painting, "fifteen," and it looks like oil on canvas. I imagine Nagel moving around the canvas, building up these layers, getting lost in the translation from observed reality to painted surface. What kind of decisions did they make? See how some of the brushstrokes are really visible, and the paint is both thick and thin? He's not trying to hide the fact that it's made of paint. The blue eyeshadow is bold and stylized. I wonder if Nagel considered the old masters while building up the flesh tones, which are subtle but deliberate. I love how the artist is unafraid to let the painting have a life of its own. It's a beautiful thing when an artist can embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, because isn’t that how meaning really emerges? What can feel so unique is built on the shoulders of what has come before.