Alexandra Noel
Alexandra Noel
b. 1989
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Alexandra Noel paints on intimately scaled panels, exploring a vast range of subject matter and styles within her consistent format. Though small, her paintings are boundless in scale—horizon lines stretch the length of wider panels, specked with diminutive architecture to indicate their scope; aerial views render tabletops a stage for drama and combat; and scenes viewed through the lens of a child’s temporary, truncated vantage point recur. Facture and subject often collapse in Noel’s work, as in a series of cake paintings, thickly impastoed on their surface as though generously frosted, sometimes hung in tight proximity like a set of sharply cut slices, with Noel’s signature enameled edges behaving as the dough within. In another series of tornado paintings, panel size is exploited and exceeded, as Noel uses a single, continuous brush stroke to drag the contents of the earth into a turbulent sky with control and ease akin to nature's force. Spanning geometric abstraction, photorealistic detail, the monochrome and more, Noel's works employ various visual strategies to augment and enhance the details of observed reality.
EDUCATION
| 2013 | MFA, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA |
| 2011 | BA, Visual Arts, University of San Diego, CA |
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2024 | Due, Barbati Gallery, Venice, Italy |
| 2022 | Three, Four, Derosia, New York, NY Table, Crèvecoeur, Paris |
| 2021 | Funny Looking, Antenna Space, Shanghai, China |
| 2019 | There’s always something, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY Just a head, Atlantis, Marseille, France Master Planned, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Paris, France |
| 2018 | Theatre Road, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Solo presentation with Bodega (Derosia), Frieze London, London, United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Solo presentation with Bodega (Derosia), The Armory Show, New York, NY |
| 2016 | From rafters, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY Bone-in, Neochrome, Turin, Italy |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 2024 | Burning Down the House: Rethinking Family, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen Double Threshold, Winter Street Gallery, Edgartown, MA What Men Live By, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium |
| 2023 | Portals, Stars, Los Angeles, CA Horizons: Is there anybody out there?, curated by Robin Peckam, Antenna Space, Shanghai, China How Unreal We Are, curated by Shivers Only, SIRA, Asnières-sur-Seine, France Anything can pass before the eyes of a person, Derosia, New York, NY Cool Invitations 10, XYZ Collective, Tokyo, Japan Cupid's Bow, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, CA Basic Fit, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium |
| 2022 | Small Fixations, curated by Chiara Nuzzi, ICA Milano, Milan, Italy FRONT International Triennial 2022, Cleveland, OH A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Chambres d’Amis: Ikea, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium |
| 2021 | Particularities, curated by Chris Sharp, X Museum, Beijing, China Landscape, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY La Boîte-en-Valise, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium |
| 2020 | Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum and The Huntington, Los Angeles, CA The Sentimental Organization of the World, Galerie Crèvecoeur, Paris, France From the X-Mas Tree of Lucy Bull, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2019 | Bolthole, Potts, Los Angeles, CA A Cloth Over a Birdcage, Château Shatto, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2018 | Metamorphõseõn, Galerie Sultana, Paris, France Kiss in Tears, curated by XYZ Collective, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Los Angeles, CA Condo NY hosting Crèvecoeur (Paris), Bodega (Derosia), New York NY Tiger Poems and Songs for Hurricanes, Travesia Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico Annex Showroom, M+B, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2017 | By the lakeside, organized by Yui Yaegashi, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL Kill it on vacation, The Steak House Doskoi via XYZ Collective, Tokyo, Japan Economy Plus, curated by Camille Blatrix, Balice Hertling, Paris, France |
| 2016 | Instrument of the Homecoming, The Sunroom, Richmond, VA Aquél que camina delante, Travesia Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico Commodus Operandi, curated by Ryan Kortman, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL All at Once, with Naoki Sutter-Shudo, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA Le domaine enchanté, Galleria Acappella, Naples, Italy Aunt Nancy, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA El Que Camina Al Lado, Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, Spain |
| 2015 | Arrears, Strongroom, Los Angeles, CA Sara two, Hester, New York, NY Comforter, Shanaynay, Paris, France |
PUBLICATIONS
| 2022 | Thirty Stuffed Grape Leaves, published by Apogee, LA; Derosia, New York; and Holoholo Books, Paris |
| 2020 | Ricky Rides Rick, published by Apogee, LA; Bodega Press, New York; and Holoholo Books, Paris |
| 2017 | Take me out, please, published by saxpublishers, Vienna, Austria |
| 2015 | By Rote, published by Holoholo Books, Paris, France Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda interview, 356 Mission blog |
| 2014 | Comment Section #2, published by Holoholo Books, Paris, France |
SELECTED PRESS
Alexandra Noel, Johanna Fateman, The New Yorker, October 10, 2022, Print
Alexandra Noel at Derosia, Nathaniel Lee, Turning Point, September 22, 2022
Interview with Brainard Carey, Yale University Radio, June 13, 2022
Kissing Through a Bullet Hole: Alexandra Noel, Travis Diehl, Mousse 76, Print
Made in L.A. 2020: a verson, Art Agenda, Travis Diehl, November 17, 2020
Paris Roundup, Flash Art, Alex Bennett, December 3, 2019
Alexandra Noel, Johanna Fateman, The New Yorker, November 8, 2019, Print
Orion Martin and Alexandra Noel at Potts, KCRW, November 2019, Radio
Alexandra Noel Proves Small Is Mighty at Bodega, Art of Choice, Maria Vogel, October 31, 2019
The Best Shows in Los Angeles Right Now, Jonathan Griffin, Frieze, October 9, 2019
Alexandra Noel at Freedman Fitzpatrick/Atlantis, Contemporary Art Writing Daily, July 20, 2019
Los Angeles Round-Up, Christina Catherine Martinez, art agenda, February 28, 2019
Les peintures talismans d’Alexandra Noel, Julie Ackerman, BeauxArts, February 27, 2019
Alexandra Noel; Alan Turner, Annabel Osberg, Artillery Magazine, January 2, 2019
10 of the Best Artworks at Frieze London 2018, Andrew Goldstein, Artnet News, October 4, 2018
Kiss in Tears at Freedman Fitzpatrick, Daily Lazy, August 2018
Five Shows to See at Condo New York, Perwani Nazif, Elephant Magazine, June 26, 2018
FIAC and Paris Internationale, Sabrina Tarasoff, Art Agenda, October 2016
15 New York Gallery Shows Where You’ll Find Exciting Young Artists This June, Casey Lesser, Artsy, June 2, 2016
Alexandra Noel, Elisabetta Tolosano, Flash Art, March 2016, Print
“Sara two” at HESTER, New York, Mousse Magazine, June 2015
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Start Museum, Shanghai, China
X Museum, Beijing, China