12 February - 8 march

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Patrick Nagle
Tête-à-Tête

Statement 

Tête-à-Tête is an exploration of the tension between connection, constraint, and division. The work presents two vibrant beings—abstracted into planes of pure, saturated color—each pulsating with life yet confined behind a grid of metal bars. These barriers are paradoxical: they simultaneously isolate and unify. The colours reflect and absorb one another, creating a subtle dialogue across the divide.

The space that separates them becomes a space of possibility and loss, not merely a void but a medium of connection. It holds the potential for interaction while maintaining their apartness. This interplay suggests that barriers, while restrictive, also serve as points of relation. They reflect the nature of a tête-à-tête—an intimate conversation where proximity fosters both connection and distance, as two entities engage yet remain distinct.

Artist Bio

Patrick Nagle is an artist whose diverse practice spans painting, installation, and performative materials. Using signifiers borrowed from minimalism, they create painted surfaces that serve as the foundation of immersive installations. Their work often occupies the viewer’s space, engaging with themes of identity, ownership, agency, and relationship. They often utilize opposing materials including steel, jute, polyester and organic materials combined with vibrant colors. Their practice reflects on the ways external systems and internal longings shape our sense of self and our capacity for connection. Born in Fargo, North Dakota in 1985, they studied at the Art Institute International of Minnesota and participated in the Turps Banana mentorship program. Their recent project, Tête-à-Tête, explores the tension between connection and separation through two elemental forms subjected to processes of filtering and distortion. This work mediates perception, probing the barriers that both enable and inhibit genuine dialogue.