It’s
not often that a single person can take responsibility for
defining a large part of a decade’s visual motif, but it would
be hard to deny the impact that artist Patrick Nagel had on the
1980s. From his contributions to Playboy to his dabblings with
music industry icons, Nagel would create a style so uniquely his
own that is work is still easily recognized today. Yet,
his style was more than just his own; it would become associated
with a specific era -- the 80s.
Nagel was born in 1945 in Ohio, and after receiving his Fine Arts
degree in 1969, he struck out as a freelance artist. After a stint
in television, he returned to his freelance passion and began to
produce a prodigious amount of work for both magazines and major
corporations in the form of advertisements and art contributions.
Over time, Playboy would come to grab more and more of his focus,
and by the mid-1970s his images had become inextricably linked with
their magazine.
Nagel’s unique gift was his ability to
synthesize the traditional “wood block” style prints that are associated
with Japanese art and combine them with Art Deco stylings to create a
singular and undeniably individual look for his own portraits.
Preferring to draw women, he populated an entire universe with
ivory-skinned goddesses who were often set
against empty space with only the most minimal of props to adorn them.
His art was so different from the
typical pinups most readers had come
to expect from Playboy that it almost felt as though it had been drawn
in the future and then transmitted through Nagel’s pen to the present
day.
Another aspect of Nagel’s notoriety came
through his collaboration with 80s pop music sensation Duran Duran. The
cover of the band’s breakthrough hit album Rio was painted by
Nagel. Even the remastered edition that would appear 17 years after its
initial 1983 release would feature a Nagel beauty. Nagel worked on
several projects together with the band, and it was through their music
that the younger 80s generation were introduced to both his earlier and
contemporary work. Sadly, Nagel would be taken by a heart attack just
one year later, leaving his art as an enduring legacy that is still
appreciated today.
It’s
not often that a single person can take responsibility for
defining a large part of a decade’s visual motif, but it would
be hard to deny the impact that artist Patrick Nagel had on the
1980s. From his contributions to Playboy to his dabblings with
music industry icons, Nagel would create a style so uniquely his
own that is work is still easily recognized today. Yet,
his style was more than just his own; it would become associated
with a specific era -- the 80s.
Nagel was born in 1945 in Ohio, and after receiving his Fine Arts
degree in 1969, he struck out as a freelance artist. After a stint
in television, he returned to his freelance passion and began to
produce a prodigious amount of work for both magazines and major
corporations in the form of advertisements and art contributions.
Over time, Playboy would come to grab more and more of his focus,
and by the mid-1970s his images had become inextricably linked with
their magazine.
typical pinups most readers had come
to expect from Playboy that it almost felt as though it had been drawn
in the future and then transmitted through Nagel’s pen to the present
day.
