ART CITIES:N.York-Ron Nagle
Ron Nagle is an American sculptor whose work is connected with the California Clay Movement. He creates small-scaled, mystically shaped and highly detailed sculptures mostly of clay 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. Nagle is also known as a composer and songwriter.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Matthew Marks Gallery Archive
Ron Nagle’s solo exhibition “Necessary Obstacles” features eighteen new sculptures, each meticulously crafted by hand in the artist’s San Francisco studio in a variety of materials including clay, catalyzed polyurethane, epoxy resin, and wood. Despite their intimate scale, Nagle’s works have an outsized visual presence. Evoking otherworldly landscapes or surreal architectural arrangements, Nagle’s diminutive sculptures are “invested with the grandeur of the Taj Mahal” as the critic Dave Hickey has written. With their unexpected combinations and forms, Nagle’s inventive works elicit a vast range of associations. The start of Ron Nagle’s career can be counted from 1961 when he joined the staff of San Francisco Art Institute where he taught sculpture till 1965. Simultaneously, Nagle served as an assistant to Peter Voulkos at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1973. Voulkos provided the young sculptor with a small salary and space for work. Nagle’s debut solo show took place at Dilexi Gallery in 1968. Nagle’s work of the period was small colorful sculptures inspired by the color theory of Joseph Albers, the Momoyama period of Japanese ceramics, and the art of Georgio Morandi. Their humor was somehow similar to the art of the California Funk movement. By the 1970s, Nagle’s sculptural compositions became minimalistic. In 1976, the artist came back to academics in San Francisco Art Institute where he spent two more years teaching art. Then, he became a teacher at Mills College. During the next decade, Ron Nagle incorporated in his works various organic objects a little bit related to ceramics in form. Throughout the 1990s, Nagle adopted slip casting for his porcelain cups which essential element was chunky handles and decals as a decoration. Since the first solo show in the late 1960s, Nagle has exhibited his work throughout the United States, including the shows at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, and art spaces in Japan, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Turkey. His sculptures were also featured at Venice Biennale. In addition to sculpting and teaching, Nagle is also a talented musician. He has shown himself as a composer, lyricist, singer, and pianist. The sculptor collaborated with Barbra Streisand, The Tubes, Leo Kottke, Sammy Hagar, performed with The Durocs duo along with Scott Matthews, and worked on special sound effects for the movies ‘Cat People’ and ‘The Exorcist’. Besides, the artist has issued a number of solo albums, including Bad Rice at Warner Bros. Entertainment. Ron Nagle retired from Mills College in 2010. Nowadays, he lives and works in San Francisco, California.
Photo: Ron Nagle, Pink Flamenco, 2021, Ceramic, glaze, catalyzed polyurethane, and epoxy resin, © Ron Nagle, Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery
Info: Matthew Marks Gallery, 523 West 24th Street, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 11/9-23/10/2021, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, https://matthewmarks.com
