Patrick Nagel Designs

[IrezumiKiss]

One of my fave illustrators as a young'un, basically because his images were the first thing (well, second or third thing) I peeped when sneaking peeks at my grandpappy's Playboys, perusing the letters to the editor page and seeing that signature mid-page illo. Then he super blew up and his shit was all over the place, defining the clean, vectored, posterized illustration graphic style of the late '70s and early '80s along with heads like Lichtenstein and Warhol. Everyone was hip on Nagel, even if you didn't know his name, you saw his stuff somewhere, somehow. His contemporary Art Deco riff on Japanese woodblock imagery influenced many art dudes to ape his style, myself included.

http://treatsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/treats-magazine-patrick-nagel-3.jpg

https://36.media.tumblr.com/25eb5121f2af495a94770df17860cbab/tumblr_n6pazozsO71rjsw17o4_400.jpg

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/images/PatrickNagel-Unknown-009.jpg

http://cdn.vectroave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Patrick_Nagel_80s_Fashion_Illustrations-13.jpg

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0109/9722/products/Nagel_Double_Fun_Original_large.jpg?v=1359927314

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wpj1BgJzF6w/UY42FHEf-0I/AAAAAAAAXck/SPomIIe1gCc/s1600/Patrick+Nagel.+Doctor+Ojiplatico-ve.+Doctor+Ojiplatico-035.jpg

http://i4.minus.com/imooC5hDEwtRX.jpg

I remember getting an indie comic book back then with the artist jacking Nagel's style exactly, scar for scar. If I can remember the name, I'll post it up.

Nowadays his process is ridiculously easy to imitate, but back then it seemed fresh, new, neon electric, the style of the future. It's a dated look of a bygone era like the Gibson Girl, but memories of Nagel's streamlined faces, bodies and nudes still hold fast. I had a trade hardcover book of his prints back then, wish I'd held onto it.

He died young-ish of a heart attack, primarily because he had a incredibly shitty diet. He basically ate nothing but cheeseburgers. Hey, he was at the top, living super large by doing what his heart loved, hurting nobody. You ain't telling a motherfucker like that anything different. He was a slim chap, too. Wasn't visibly out of shape or anything. So he was feeling good.

Then he did some celebrity fitness thing for charity or something, sweating a river in the process...and shortly after that while in his car, boom. His heart — the actual one that he should've paid more attention to — said, fuuuuuuuck you. Shame, cuz I would've loved to see his artistic evolution.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0Y-AYb-z8Bw/TL-hauz1EfI/AAAAAAAAAeY/Z17knqmijD4/s1600/Patrick_Nagel.jpg

 

[Que Va]

I was a fan. Every once in a while I see a girl and think, "She looks like a Nagel."