ART-PREVIEW:Ron Nagle-Getting to No

Like the confectioners that craft Japanese wagashi*, traditional tea-ceremony treats, the artist Ron Nagle, 80, creates miniature, meticulously rendered objects that are ripe with dual meaning. In his otherworldly ceramic sculptures, which are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, pastel stucco planes converge with glossy half-moon shapes, suggesting animal tails, chewed-up wads of gum, bare tree limbs, erect genitalia or excrement — sometimes all at once.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Matthew Marks Gallery Archive

Ron Nagle’s exhibition “Getting to No” features 25 new sculptures and 10 related drawings. Most are no larger than 11 cm in any dimension, but at this scale, Nagle says, an object “can allude to a much bigger place, because it’s so small your imagination has to fill in all that space that’s not there”. Nagle makes his exquisitely crafted, jewel-like sculptures by hand, and although he works in traditional mediums like ceramic and porcelain, he combines them with other materials, including epoxy resin and catalyzed polyurethane, to create forms that cannot be achieved in clay alone. This merging of incongruous elements also extends to his titles, which are loaded with puns and wordplay: “Egregious Philbin” (2017), for example, or “Quartersan” (2018). As he says “I’m trying to create a hybrid. You can’t quite put your finger on it.” Born and raised in San Francisco, Nagle apprenticed with the Berkeley-based ceramist Peter Voulkos in the ’60s and helped carve out a niche for ceramics to be understood as rigorous and conceptual sculptures, rather than simply decorative objects. He went on to teach ceramics at Mills College in Oakland for over three decades before retiring in 2010 and returning full-time to his practice. Throughout his life, Nagle has tried to make three-dimensional forms appear flat, while still evoking rich, microcosmic landscapes, taking cues from the Italian artists Giorgio Morandi and Lucio Fontana, who challenged the dimensional constraints of painting on canvas in the ’50s. Often installed in peep-hole-style wall recesses or gleaming glass vitrines, like specimens dropped down from another planet, his works mix elements of allure and repulsion to enigmatic effect. Named with tongue-in-cheek puns like “Pastafarian,” “Urinetrouble” and “Karma Gouda” they are also extensions of his irreverent sense of humor. Inspiration for Nagle’s work often comes from unusual sources, like the roadside tombstones of Hawaii, the custom paint jobs of 1960s hot-rod cars, or the stucco houses of the San Francisco neighborhood where he grew up. Even a deformed tree or a stain on the sidewalk can spark an idea. But his work is also grounded in tradition. He frequently cites the influence of shibui**. When Nagle makes a sculpture, the proportion of each color is essential; the most vibrant hue might be confined to a thin stripe along its base. Outside of the visual art world, though, he is also known as a prolific songwriter and composer; he’s credited for writing iconic songs on albums by Jefferson Airplane, Sammy Hagar and Barbra Streisand, as well as for creating many of the sound effects in “The Exorcist”.

* Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets that are typically enjoyed in combination with a cup of green tea. They aremade in a wide variety of shapes and consistencies and with diverse ingredients and preparation methods. Some are popular across the country and around the year while others are only available regionally or seasonally.

** The Japanese aesthetic of shibui draws upon silent, subtle and unobtrusive qualities. A person, performance or an object can be considered shibui. Each are authentic and appealing without the need for decoration – this is the shibui ideal. Something shibui, although seemingly simplistic, reveals the complex and intricate variables in nature that make our world unique. Its intent is to evoke awareness and appreciation for life as it is, seeing the implicit beauty in what has come to be considered ordinary or mundane.

Info: Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 W est 22nd Street, New York, Duration: 2/5-15/6/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.matthewmarks.com