Nagel

rif. 16-5368 — Santa Monica: Mirage Editions 1981. . 43.1 x 63.5 cm. Twelve color serigraph on thick paper. One of 250 pencil signed and numbered impressions.Reference: Robert Walker & Jeffrey Book "The Art of Patrick Nagel" page 154 no. 21.Prints.com:Patrick Nagel was born November 25 1945 in Dayton Ohio but was brought up in the Los Angeles area where he spent most of his life. He studied art at Chouinard Art Institute and in 1969 received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University at Fullerton. Nagel first put his talents to work as a freelance artist; then in 1971 he joined ABC-TV where he produced television graphics for promotion and news broadcasts. After a year he returned to freelance assignments accepting commissions for art prints and posters from major corporations and magazines including IBM MGM Universal Studios Playboy Architectural Digest Rolling Stone Oui and Harpers.Beginning in 1976 Patrick Nagel began contributing regularly to Playboy which extended the exposure and popularity of "the Nagel woman" to a huge and loyal audience. In 1978 he created his first poster image for Mirage Editions. He also painted the cover of rock group Duran Duran's Rio album which became the number one album in the world. During his lifetime Nagel's art prints and posters were exhibited in several one-man shows; his first exhibition of painting sold out within fifteen minutes. His posters have been collected by such prestigious institutions as the Library of Congress the Oakland Museum and the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at U.C.L.A. Permanent collections of his work are housed at the Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs paris and the Smithsonian Institution.The feeling of Patrick Nagel's art prints and posters are reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints as well as of Art Deco styling yet it is completely contemporary and universal in appeal. Starting from a photograph he would create a simplified drawing the translate the drawing to a painting -- always "simplifying working to get more across with fewer elements." Bold dark lines shape perspective out of flat cool colors and stark white spaces; the result is what some have described as fantasy realism. Santa Monica: Mirage Editions, 1981. unknown