![]() ![]() Courtesy of this mode of production, there is a continuity to his work that makes many of the figures resemble one another. The result was a stylised, one dimensional image, such as the album cover discussed, highlighting those elements he felt were essential. From there he simplified, removing all elements which he felt were superfluous or distracting. Nagel, who was obsessed with form, commenced his practice with a photograph. He reportedly derived this concept from archetypal and significant women in his life including his wives, mother, and daughter. What became known as the ‘Nagel woman’ (as seen on the cover) was developed over a long time, while regular publishing in playboy increased his popularity as an artist. ![]() Layendecker or Maxfield Parrish, yet on a surface level his work more closely recalls Japanese Woodblock prints, with their unusual cropping and large fields of colour. Many have since argued that his distinctive style descended from Art Deco, specifically the design aesthetics of J.C. In his lifetime Nagel became known for his hundreds of illustrations and paintings, primed on board, paper, and canvas, many of which focused on the subtle grace of womanhood. That same year he received his BA from California State University. After serving in Vietnam, Nagel attended the Chouinard Art Institute in 1969. So which seeming cultural clairvoyant was behind this powerful and seductive image? That would be Patrick Nagal, an American artist born in Dayton Ohio in 1945 who spent most of his life in the Los Angeles area. Incorporating an italicised title, RIO, and spliced by thin, coloured, diagonal beams, it’s as punchy and new wave as the early days of powerpoint. With its romantic red and purple frame and the penetrating profile illustration of a woman smiling almost salaciously out at the audience - her red-wine lipstick the focal point of the portrait her short, spiked hair brushed away to one side her eyebrows arrow sharp and her pink earrings like elongated nails reaching in a V-shape to her neck - it undoubtedly conjures up a myriad of images for a decade that would come to be dominated by Madonna. Like the music, the album art is nothing short of commercially driven pop, so aptly set in time that it seems to fully encapsulate the entirety of the 80s aesthetic. ![]() Like it or not, with its inclusion of such iconic tracks as ‘hungry like a wolf’, ‘save on a prayer’, where the blend of rock, disco, and heartthrob pop is at its peak, it’s hard to dispute the fact that the album gets stuck in your head. Shaking off the shackles of their earlier influences, including Japan and David Bowie, the band propelled themselves into the rock n’roll hall of fame with this lusty, at times nonsensical and otherwise self-mythologising album. As a 2009 article in Pitchfork states ‘Rio isn't just front-loaded with some of the era's most bulldozing hits, it's still Duran's best shot at an artistic legacy’. Certified Platinum on 26 April 1983, it eventually reached Double Platinum status. It was the 2nd studio album by the English new wave outfit and in 2000 it came in at 98 in Q magazine's ‘100 Greatest British Albums,’ followed by a ranking of 65 in the NME ‘100 Greatest Albums of All Time’ in 2003. Originally released to a worldwide audience on the 10th of May 1982, Duran Duran’s seminal album Rio reached number 1 in Australia and peaked at number 6 in the US. ![]()
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