Opposite:
The firozvn Bender,
200 f!, ceramic,
6 У 4 Х 4 V ix 2У4ІП.
Top:
Molly Slobber,
2008,
ceramic,
5
V2
x 4 x 4 in.
Bottom:
lj)ngin 'for lAmgolis,
2008, ceramic,
5 У 4 Х 4 У 4 Х l V ii n .
it should be
Split Infinity,
” he says, pointing to a picture in a catalog
from his 2008 show in Belgium. Pieces on nearby pages in this book
bear the names
Molly Slobber, The Brown Bender, Longin’for Lnngolis
and
Nights o f Malta.
Another 2008 show (at George Adams Gallery In New York)
included a clearly related piece titled
Knights o f Franconia.
Both
Malta
and
Franconia
are airbrushed in a combination of blue, yellow
and violet on a surface that looks like chewed chalk. Each consists
of two flattened, roughly rectangular shapes—one larger than the
other—emerging from a low dome, beneath the edge o f which is
a tiny, shiny rim of red. Beyond this resemblance, however, they
diverge, making completely different impressions through Nagle’s
subtle adjustments of color, proportion and hue.
Malta
has a dark
weight—an inscrutability, like a locked warehouse at night. In con-
trast,
Franconia
(the name of a street near Nagle’s house in San
Francisco) seems to float, like a sunrise over water. Like a grace
note (or an electric guitar riff), a tiny edge of yellow at the upper
right changes everything.
Nagle’s approach to life, music and art—not necessarily in that
order—is not conceptual but is based on how things
feel.
He described
it as “right brain—thinking without thinking.
... Almost everything
I have made for the past few years has come from drawings that I do
while sitting in bed watching Charlie Chan movies or
The Thin Man.
I’ve seen some of those movies 20 times. It’s more about ambience
than ‘who done it’—I just like to have it on. And I keep these draw-
ings around, and then I get an idea from one of them.” He showed
me a stack of these sketches on lined yellow paper. Certain shapes
repeat, as they have throughout Nagle’s long career. “It’s all about
how the work moves you. It might be based on a title, a feeling.
...
Then you start fishing around for chords, and getting a sense of how
to build it. Part of a great idea is based on taking that initial glimpse,
or spark, and developing it. The things that move me can be, but
aren’t necessarily, art—a car, a song.”
A book chronicling Nagle’s life will be coming out in 2010, com-
plete with timelines, pictures and essays. He’s also releasing a new
solo album—the first in decades—titled
She Lies.
It includes some
older songs, some new ones, and even a couple of cover tunes.
(Bad
Rice,
his legendary debut album of 1970, is slated for re-release
around the same time.) Surely, both the book and Nagle’s music
will demonstrate the ways in which intuition has guided his process
from the beginning, through a process of continual tinkering to-
ward a pared-down perfection.
Maria Porges is an artist and writer who lives in Oakland, CA.
♦
renabranstengallery.com
georgeadamsgallery.com
dec/jan 10 american craft 047
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