Portrait of Bailee 2016

Aaron Nagel, born in 1980, painted this unnamed portrait of Bailee, most likely with oils, though I can’t be sure. The gray background is layered like clouds and the skin tones have a life-like, luminous quality. I can imagine Aaron thinking, “How can I translate what I see onto this canvas?" Painting is a way of thinking, a process of call and response. He probably stared at the model for hours as a way to really *see* her, internalizing her form and features. It’s almost like falling in love; so much attention and focus. Those eyes, blue with subtle shifts of tone. He probably mixed those blues and whites a bunch of times, trying to get them just right. I think of other painters—Alice Neel, Marlene Dumas—all those artists who try to get at something essential through a likeness. Aaron is part of that ongoing conversation, finding his own way to make paint reveal something of the human condition.