Paul Noble & Georgina Starr
Paul Noble Marble Hall
Paul Noble Marble Hall Exhibition at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle 2011-2014
Paul Noble Marble Hall situates Noble’s own art, centred on his huge tapestry villa joe, within the historical context of the Laing’s architecture and collections. Using archive photographs dating to around the time of the opening of the Gallery in 1904, the artist re-created the early appearance of the Hall with plants. The plants also refer to Noble’s interest in exploring the boundary between the natural world and cultural constructs. This theme is echoed in the images on his ‘artist designed’ wallpaper, featuring antique plinths interspersed with vegetation.
Paul Noble’s tapestry has been purchased for the Gallery with the aid of substantial grants. The artist has made a gift of a ceramic sculpture, seven, which was part of a large group incorporated in the original installation. The piece is covered with a thick shiny glaze inspired by those used in traditional Japanese ceramics. It is presented on a carved wooden stand in the style of Chinese ‘scholars’ stones’ – naturally occurring rocks selected for particular qualities such as shape and surface these are traditionally placed on pedestals.
The tapestry and ceramic link directly to the Laing’s collection, and central to the installation is Henry Moore’s large bronze sculpture Seated Woman: Thin Neck. Noble has made an in-depth study of Moore, who famously liked to go beach-combing in search of flints and pebbles eroded into inspiring shapes. Noble’s ceramics are diminutive versions of the organic sculptures made by Moore in response to his beach-combing collection, reducing the monumentality of Moore’s sculptures to the scale and status of ornaments.
The ceramic piece realises in three-dimensional form the precious collection of objects housed in ‘villa joe’, which features in the artist’s tapestry of the same title. The building is named after Joseph Holtzman, editor-in-chief and art director of the cult décor magazine Nest, who is known for his meticulously hyper-decorated Manhattan apartment, in which the juxtaposition of every object is fine-tuned. Through the glass walls of Holtzman’s museum, as shown in the bottom left-hand side of the tapestry, one can see the exhibits neatly laid out. There is a jarring contrast between the modern, cultured museum and the rough, monumental forms of the natural landscape surrounding and dwarfing it.
Lesley Richardson 2013
Paul Noble Marble Hall
Paul Noble Marble Hall Exhibition at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle 2011-2014
Paul Noble Marble Hall situates Noble’s own art, centred on his huge tapestry villa joe, within the historical context of the Laing’s architecture and collections. Using archive photographs dating to around the time of the opening of the Gallery in 1904, the artist re-created the early appearance of the Hall with plants. The plants also refer to Noble’s interest in exploring the boundary between the natural world and cultural constructs. This theme is echoed in the images on his ‘artist designed’ wallpaper, featuring antique plinths interspersed with vegetation.
Paul Noble’s tapestry has been purchased for the Gallery with the aid of substantial grants. The artist has made a gift of a ceramic sculpture, seven, which was part of a large group incorporated in the original installation. The piece is covered with a thick shiny glaze inspired by those used in traditional Japanese ceramics. It is presented on a carved wooden stand in the style of Chinese ‘scholars’ stones’ – naturally occurring rocks selected for particular qualities such as shape and surface these are traditionally placed on pedestals.
The tapestry and ceramic link directly to the Laing’s collection, and central to the installation is Henry Moore’s large bronze sculpture Seated Woman: Thin Neck. Noble has made an in-depth study of Moore, who famously liked to go beach-combing in search of flints and pebbles eroded into inspiring shapes. Noble’s ceramics are diminutive versions of the organic sculptures made by Moore in response to his beach-combing collection, reducing the monumentality of Moore’s sculptures to the scale and status of ornaments.
The ceramic piece realises in three-dimensional form the precious collection of objects housed in ‘villa joe’, which features in the artist’s tapestry of the same title. The building is named after Joseph Holtzman, editor-in-chief and art director of the cult décor magazine Nest, who is known for his meticulously hyper-decorated Manhattan apartment, in which the juxtaposition of every object is fine-tuned. Through the glass walls of Holtzman’s museum, as shown in the bottom left-hand side of the tapestry, one can see the exhibits neatly laid out. There is a jarring contrast between the modern, cultured museum and the rough, monumental forms of the natural landscape surrounding and dwarfing it.
Lesley Richardson 2013