Ron Nagle has made stunning, entirely unique small sculptures since the 1960s, producing a body of work that is as original as it is mischievous. He mixes allusions to modernism, middlebrow culture, and the specific pop sensibility of Northern California in exquisitely formed works that are often no bigger than a few inches. This exhibition marks his first survey in the Bay Area in over twenty-five years and features twenty ceramic sculptures on custom pedestals designed by the artist and 15 drawings, mostly ink on paper, from the past two decades of Nagle’s career. The exhibition selection is augmented by more than 100 images of his work presented in the catalogue along with scholarly essays. Ron Nagle: Handsome Drifter is an important exhibition for an artist whose exquisite work deserves to be better known.
Ron Nagle: Handsome Drifter
“It is an honor to be part of The Warhol Foundation’s mission to support the visual arts coupled with its commitment to specifically support the voices of women, POC, Native Americans, and LGBTQ. It is simply thrilling to be part of an organization where we get to see these values writ large and implement real change in real life ways in the visual arts community that still so needs to move forward in terms of social justice, equality, and diversity. We put our money where our mouth is. How many institutions actually do that?”
Deborah Kass, Artist