Trench Coat 

Curator: Here we have a portrait by Patrick Nagel titled "Trench Coat," created using acrylic paint and enamel. The clean lines and bold simplification certainly command attention, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely. My immediate reaction is one of calculated coolness. The minimal palette, the stark composition—it evokes a sense of 1980s chic, detached and almost confrontational. It is as if she's challenging you to look, and then regretting that she gave you permission to do so. Curator: Precisely. Let’s consider the artist's technique. Notice the distinct absence of blending and modeling; Nagel opts for flat, unmodulated planes of color, defined by sharp edges. It abstracts the subject, almost bordering on caricature. It pushes portraiture to near pure form. Editor: Which is precisely why, to my eyes, the materiality is key. The work is an acrylic painting – mass produced material – that elevates fashion and graphic design, effectively blurring the lines between artistic disciplines, making a critique on taste and consumption by using materials that don't have any value attached. Curator: True, the lack of painterly gesture undeniably speaks to the reproducibility and commercial context in which Nagel was working. Still, consider the carefully arranged planes. The olive trench, framing that pale expanse of skin. The sharp violet sash as counterpoint, neatly tying the portrait together, structurally. And the fact that the subject herself could also be presented as commercial art—with clean lines and little need for labor compared to other portraits of its style—makes a striking impact when understanding her material significance. Editor: It definitely resonates within the commercial art and female portrayal landscape of the 1980s, certainly. But how the female body is displayed feels paramount here. A labor in itself, for a person to be 'camera ready', like they call it today. So much work is put into our presentation in commercial spaces. It adds to the conversation of labor and the construction of femininity for a specific male audience. Curator: A complex interplay, undeniably. The composition uses simplification to convey so much. Editor: A compelling convergence of aesthetics, material choice, and the socio-cultural fabric of its time.