Ron Nagle Ceramics

As ron nagle prepares for a slate of new shows in 2020 he speaks about success his work ethic and how his tiny ceramic sculptures came to be.

Ron nagle ceramics. Intimate in scale bold in color and immaculate in finish the ceramic sculptures by san francisco based artist ron nagle look like surrealistic dream objects. Ron nagle is a ceramics pioneer with a new exhibition at the uc berkeley art museum and pacific film archive. Ron nagle born february 21 1939 is an american sculptor musician and songwriter. Nagle lives and works in san francisco california.

For over fifty years i have been making small objects mostly out of clay which in the beginning had reference to ceramic vessels. The grotesque elegant crude erotic psychedelic intimate humorous and dead serious. No other artist creates anything remotely like it. He is known for small scale refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color.

Ron nagle s work is nothing less than astonishing simultaneously odd and beautiful it seamlessly incorporates multiple aspects. Ron nagle helped pave the way for clay artists to be taken seriously but he still has a sense of humor. His work is instantly recognizable as his. Some are glazed to a hot rod finish others textured like stucco and then airbrushed.

Ahead of a new solo show he discusses his work his dog and his tv habits. Early in his career nagle apprenticed with fellow abstract expressionist ceramicist peter voulkos and he cites ken price and giorgio morandi as significant influences. Over the years my work has evolved to forms which are less referential to pottery but still maintain much of the idiomatic elements that have been associated with ceramics. He practiced ceramics in high school and developed an interest in.

The latest artist to experience a massive upswing in attention is ron nagle the san francisco based postwar ceramicist who in his 70s still adds to his already massive body of work at. Born in san francisco in 1939 nagle was introduced to ceramics by his mother at an early age.