Ann Noël – Art & Life Life & Art

Ann Noël – Art & Life Life & Art
Worls 1964–2003

Ann Noël's statement, 'Art is what you do to surprise yourself,' encapsulates her artistic philosophy and exemplifies her exceptional work. Over our twenty-five-year collaboration, her art consistently astonishes and impresses not only me, but also countless others who recognize its profound significance.

Born in 1944, this gifted British artist excels in multiple disciplines, resulting in a multimedia body of work characterized by a rich array of expressive techniques. Ann Noël combines creative ingenuity with technical prowess, fearlessly experimenting and ingeniously executing her ideas - a rare blend. This has yielded a multifaceted output with unexpected structures, rhythms, and underlying philosophical depth.

Unconstrained by conventional notions of imagery, Noël perpetually explores new terrain to convey her sometimes universal themes. In major works like 'Berlin Traces' (1989), comprising 64 drawings mounted on four wooden panels, or the 'CONFLUX' series (from 1984), she adeptly translates realms of experience spanning over a decade into a visually accessible language.

The coded fields of color, each assigned specific meanings by Noël, appear as designated landing places for named individuals, locations, situations, and temporal markers. It is a delightful experience to inhabit these landing places and to traverse the extensive terrain of her work. When framed under glass and viewed from a distance, the images acquire a cinematic quality, intertwining with one's own thoughts and memories prompted by its numerous points of reference. Together with the images, these associations form a lively current in which everything finds its place, connected to the flow of life.

This is a poetic and deeply moving tribute to people, places, and times, but it is also an ode to life itself!