Refraction 2016

Aaron Nagel made this painting, called Refraction, at an undetermined date. The colours are muted but there is a kind of glow that comes from within, as if the artist has allowed the underpainting to show through. That's one of the things I'm always trying to get at in my own work – the sense of something lurking beneath the surface. There's a beautiful tension between the real and the reflected here. Note the contrast of the warm flesh tones and the cool, metallic sheen of the hands. They're like alien objects, and yet they're a part of her. I keep wondering about the hands, the way they glisten and almost vibrate against the skin of the figure. It's a weird but strangely compelling detail. Nagel reminds me of Odd Nerdrum, another artist who is committed to the possibilities of figurative painting. Both artists seem to be asking questions about what it means to be human in a world that is increasingly mediated by technology.