Bruno David Gallery continues its 13th season with a solo exhibition by Denver-based artist Ralph Nagel. The exhibition "Being There," Nagel’s first show with the gallery, will feature an overview of his 15 years of practice and travels from around the world. In conjunction with the exhibition, Bruno David Gallery Publications will publish an exhibition catalogue of the artist’s work with an exhibition history and bibliography, and including texts by Carmon Colangelo, Dan Jacobs, Leslie Laskey, Michael Paglia and Cathy Wright.

A follower of the nineteenth century Barbizon School, Hudson River School, the Impressionists and an "en plein air" advocate, Ralph Nagel is interested in creating works that balance between spontaneity and control. An admirer of the nineteenth forerunners Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Constable and Théodore Rousseau, he is an avid “en plein air” artist who reasons that to seize the closeness and likeness of an outside setting at a specific moment one must be outside to do so. Nagel says, “Truly seeing the subject of my art only takes place once the painting begins. It's about that day, that moment. I would be lost if I knew the end when I begin. And as in life, painting is about having the courage to take risks towards an outcome that is unknown.”

The exhibition will also feature a short documentary screening in the New Media Room (4 min.) of an interview with Ralph Nagel by Dominic Dezzutti. The documentary originally aired in 2012 and was produced by the Denver Public Television station.

Nagel was born in St. Charles, Illinois, in 1945 and currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. He received his Master of Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1969, and his Master of City Planning and Master of Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions throughout Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Thailand, New Zealand, and the United States including Chicago, Dallas, Santa Fe, St. Louis, and Denver, among many others. Nagel is a member of Les Rats de Champ of Paris, France, and the co-founder of the painting group, STUDIO 208.