evergreen 2020

Aaron Nagel made 'evergreen' with paint and a lot of thoughtfulness. The muted palette, mostly greens and browns, feels like a memory or a dream. Nagel’s paint handling here is pretty amazing; he really knows how to make paint do what he wants, to create the look and feel of skin, cloth, and shadow. The paint is applied thinly, almost like a wash, but he builds up layers to create depth and luminosity. The woman's leg, the way he renders the light hitting her skin, is just…*chef's kiss*. And look how he contrasts it with the dark, velvety texture of the couch. The whole thing has a haunting quality. I think of Edward Hopper, another painter who knew how to capture loneliness and longing in a single frame. But Nagel brings something new to the table; a contemporary sensibility, maybe, or a willingness to embrace ambiguity and mystery.