74038 - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Buy image

74038

Nagel, Andrés

San Sebastián, 15/08/1947

Mixed media

190 x 118 x 89 cm

1974

Third quarter of the 20th century

82/2364

Acquired in 1979

Nagel's use of a wide range of materials and pre-existing objects, anything from tin cans, rope or plastics to neon tubes and pieces of furniture, with generally human figures that he constructs, occasionally fragmentedly, out of fibre glass placed over an easy-to-model wire mesh support that he then paints, clearly takes Pop Art as its basic reference. But it may in fact be truer to talk about figuration where different expressive attitudes converge: pathos, melancholy, truculence, humour and angst.

Although made under the influence of the installations and reliefs of Georges Segal and Larry Rivers, these remarkably original sculptures also refer to film, comics, poster art, caricature and advertising. Nagel introduced new forms in Basque art and, above all, a new vision of the region's current reality. In this respect at least, he is not far removed from Vicente Ameztoy, with whom he has produced the occasional artwork.

The 74038, an early work of sculpture and painting, is a response to his interest in film and Gothic tales, and also in sordid humour. At the same time it is a vigorous image of the problem of the double, of identity and the shadow. [Javier Viar]

Selected bibliography

  • Andrés Nagel [Folleto]. Bilbao, Galería Lúzaro, 1974. s.p.
  • Andres de Nagel [Folleto]. Madrid, Galería Iolas-Velasco, 1974. s.p.
  • Bengoechea, Javier de. Catálogo de arte moderno y contemporáneo del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, 1980. p. 150. (Con el título La pelleja).
  • Andrés Nagel : 1974-1995 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa = Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa Fundazioa, 1995. n° cat. 1.
  • Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 174-175.
  • Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. pp. 174-175.
  • Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. pp. 174-175, n° cat. 96a.
  • Viar, Javier. Historia del arte vasco : de la Guerra Civil a nuestros días, 1936-2016. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2017. pp. 422-423, il.
  • Después del 68 : arte y prácticas artísticas en el País Vasco, 1968-2018 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. p. 311, il.