Ron Nagle
I had recurring dreams of Ron Nagle's Small-scale sculptures, waking with a sense of their shape and personality. This inspired me to make small sculptures out of wood, which I then painted on using water colour. Going forward I would like these motifs to become a part of my painting practice. I am looking forward to exploring successful elements of work that I have found within collage, drawing and painting.
To me, the most successful elements of my practice have been achieved through loose mark making – working on a series of work at a time as opposed to working on once piece at a time. I have learnt that when I do work on one piece at a time, I lose the immediacy of the marks – resulting in paintings that are disjointed and a little suffocated.
The appreciation that I’ve gathered over Ron Nagle’s work is, it is incredibly difficult to make something simple. This is something I will focus on going forward, as I refine the details of my own formative language.
RON NAGLE: WHAT MATERIALS DOES HE USE?
Ron Nagle is a ceramicist who uses slip casting, epoxy embellishments, and other synthetic components to play around with what is possible with clay. These abstract figures, give tangibility to abstract expression through colour and form on a small scale.
In this simplicity, it is the connections between his use of colour, texture, placement and exploration that articulate his ideas into complete works of art.
Being an artist who has difficulties working with simplicity, and running into over labouring, jumping the gun on details - this an intrinsic lesson for me going foward.
