Aaron Nagel has a special talent for making a woman’s skin glow with warmth while her facial expression is firm with conviction. We can’t take our eyes off these beautiful ladies, especially in “The Call.” We caught process shots of this painting on Aaron’s blog, and we had to ask him more about it. Read below for Aaron’s interpretation.

How did you come across the model?

I met her through a friend at a bbq,  somehow found out that she had a ton of modeling experience, and amazingly got her to help out with a bunch of paintings.  she’s beautiful and has a graceful but very aggressive look. she also lets me paint her hands and poke her with arrows.

Why did you paint her hands black?

I happened upon the idea of painting hands during a shoot with a model a few years ago. Like most of the stuff I do, the meaning behind a particular element or theme comes second to the look, but I’ve since come to think of the black painted hands as a metaphor for guilt, or a marking of some past offense.

How is it that she is pierced by arrows, but seemingly at peace with her situation?

I think of the women I paint as saints, a new sort of iconography for skeptics like me who don’t believe in God. instead of being victims though, like St. Sebastian (the often arrow-pierced saint), my saints are vengeful and unaffected.

How does the black halo relate to the arrows?

Saints get halos! Plus, I am comforted by symmetry and that small graphical element really helps my brain digest an image.

not thematically, but I think the execution is different than my previous stuff, and probably representative of where I’m headed.

Keep an eye out for Aaron Nagel at our December Aqua Wynwood exhibition and at The Shooting Gallery in March 2024.