Apparition
The surface of a photograph, like an apparition, appears invisible because photography functions as both a window onto reality and a construct that is simultaneously iconic and indexical. The works on display challenge this perceived transparency of photography — by practicing various forms of ‘mark-making’ to construct images; without a camera or a decisive moment.
Much like an exposure onto light-sensitive material, the incisions with an etching needle onto a photographic paper are a form of appropriation. The physical manipulation of the paper substrate introduces the temporality of human time through gestures such as scratching, burning, and folding. Forces like water, heat, and pressure separate the emulsion from the paper base, generating unstable images composed of arbitrary dye-clouds and chemical stains. This material process intersects with the temporality of machine time, layering reproductions created through scanners and printers. In the deliberate misuse of these devices, traces of dry ink imprint onto the surface, further altering the image. The work responds to a contemporary era marked by the instability of representation and memory, shaped by personal digital archives and artificial intelligence.
Edition 1 of 3 + 2 AP
(2022.09 - 2022.12)
Monolithic is a body of photographs about the places we hear about but we rarely see; a world of unidentified structures. What happens inside is ambiguous and full of questions. Structure and scale are emphasized through the juxtaposition of the large with the small. The objects are not romanticized, instead they are constructed in a minimalist and contemporary context that prioritizes form over function. Monolithic plays with the perception of what’s real, extending the first impression and encouraging the viewer to look for more.
Edition 1 of 10
M8, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M10, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M4, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M1, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M2, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M5, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
The End, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 2022
M3, 30x45 inches, inkjet print, 202(2
(2022.08 - 2022.09)
The Black Rock Playa in Northwestern Nevada is the site of the annual Burning Man festival. Each year, artists gather to showcase their work on a flatbed amidst the desert of the American West. When a sandstorm sweeps through the playa on an otherwise clear, sunny day, the light, sound, and visibility of the environment shift with each passing moment. Every gust of wind carries a varying density of dust, causing the figures to pulsate, imbuing static objects with life. A magnitude of image reproductions depicting the installations accumulate throughout the festival, introducing an artifice to the event as visual phenomena. For instance, ‘Elephant I’ draws from multiple layers of reproduction — beginning with Salvador Dalí’s 1948 oil painting ‘Los elefantes’, followed by its 2022 installation reinterpretation ‘Homage au Dalí’ by Jack Champion, and culminating in a black-and-white photograph that references its predecessors. The series isolates each installation from the ‘Burning Man’ hashtag; presenting them as fleeting objects. Yet another indecisive reproduction emerges, juxtaposed with the decisive snapshot of cyclists passing through the image frame.
Edition 1 of 10 + 2 AP
Chosen Winner of American Photography 40.
Museé Magazine Feature
(2022.08 - 2022.09)
A-A is an interpretation of the non-linear in a seemingly linear world, functioning in straight lines (A-B). The figures are representations of the linear; they are strict, sculptural, and untouchable. But they are positioned in ways that both contradict and confirm realility. This conflict is the feeling of being static, while the ordinary world keeps moving and follows what's right and true. What results, is the fear of the linear no longer functioning as A-B, but instead A-A all at once.
Edition of 20 + 2 AP
(2020.10 - 2021.04)
Nazaré is a Portuguese fishing town located in the Oeste Region that historically relies on the sea for sustenance and economic stability. Fishing is carried out by the village men who propel their boats into the sea, while the women manage the daily governance of the town. For decades, some of these men never returned from shipwrecks due to harsh storms from the Atlantic Ocean. The identity of these men and the circumstances of their disappearance remain unclear. These storms generate swell directions that activate Europe's deepest underwater canyon, amplifying waves up to 100 feet tall toward Praia do Norte. Since 2011, this natural phenomenon has attracted the sport of big wave surfing and a group of athletes who prove what is humanly possible today. They operate in the shadow of those lost at sea, catching the next wave like the fishermen who cast their nets, “as if under the command of an invisible master” (François Mauriac, 1955).
Nagel’s interests are rooted in conceptualism, minimalism, happenings, and process. Through a hybrid of image-making fields, he investigates the role of perception and memory in the age of personal digital archives and simulations. Nagel draws from concepts of objectivity in the construction of the photographic image.
Nagel has worked as a member of the in-house photo team of Annie Leibovitz and travelled across Europe as personal photographer for Sebastian Steudner. He is a recipient of the American Photography 40 award (2024) and Parsons School of Design, 50% Merit Scholarship (2023). Selected group exhibitions include: ‘As It Exists’, Huret & Spector Gallery, Boston (2022); ‘Andes, America’, The Corner Gallery, Andes, New York (2024); ‘Transcending Perspectives’, American Center for Photographers, North Carolina (2024). Selected press & publications include: Die Zeit (2023), MOTION Magazine (2023), Bloomberg (2021).
(2023)ICP, Lighting II: Advanced Techniques, New York, NY
(2019-2023)BA Visual Media Arts, Magna-Cum Laude, Emerson College, Boston, MA
(2017)Prodigy Film Camp, Seattle, WA
(2024)Andes, America, The Corner Gallery, Andes, NY
(2022)As It Exists, Huret & Spector Gallery, Boston, MA