Claudia Nagy Commentary

The Drawers - Claudia Nagy Commentary written by Julie Oakes

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Weird Queer Freaky Xmas

Eccentric Realism - if the phrase is not in existence it has just been christened with a splash of champagne on the head of one of Nagy's creature sculptures. The creations deserve a welcoming for they rise above suspicion or doubt as to their credibility by virtue of their unconventional authenticity. There is a subtle difference in their physicality, an odd departure from what is usual or normal as if they have been birthed by one who is mildly insane or touched. They appear self absorbed and interested to an extreme or unreasonable degree with their own individuality. They are like wraiths inverted so that rather than being a ghost of one who once was, they are now resident in the virtual world as substantial forms for imaginative beings.

They are small enough to be friendly with materials that beg to be touched like the luscious coat of Emperor of the Dynasty Mink yet they also possess a potential to turn, to snap or pounce. Often posed arrested as if caught in a sudden flash of human awareness that leaves them stiff with fright or adjusting their sight to a novel sense of light, it feels as if they have been here before but the ability to see them needed a heightened presentation of their existence, a febrile hallucination of pristine exquisiteness. They imply sounds- mews, spooky breathing sighs, or toe nails tip-tapping on a late night kitchen floor alerting an insomniac to the little body illuminated by the light from inside the fridge door. They beg to be met alone, in a darkened street or an abandoned attic. They are romantic and lovely like a deformed princess or an enchanted sprite. They are the progeny of crazy dreams where couplings are crystal clear and irretrievable.

Claudia Nagy's work is about poetry, emotions, Freudian impressions and surreal associations. The unearthly or supernatural strangeness of her creations have a second sense to them. Using both exotic and common materials, she creates beings that inhabit a world yet unknown where a mute, bizarre appeal is more akin to beauty than psychologically disturbing. They are odd, freaky sites of otherness to which we are related through our fascination with our own human sensibilities.