Project Gallery

Untitled

David Noonan (born in Ballarat, Australia 1969) lives and works in London, and has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. Whether sculpture, printmaking, painting, etching, installation or film, the sense of narrative running through his work is a unifying thread.

Noonan often looks to things like 70s craft books and gothic architecture to help inform his narratives. The timelessness frequently found in his work is contradicted by the high-tech elements he often employs, adding to the tension his work generates. Noonan deliberately obscures the absolute nature of his narrative, allowing the viewer to be drawn into his theatrical compositions.

The Tapestry

This is the second collaboration between Noonan and ATW weavers. The first resulted in Untitled (2009), which was part of ‘British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet,' curated by the Hayward Gallery in London and widely recognized as the most ambitious and influential exhibition of contemporary British art. The new tapestry will be exhibited at the Melbourne Art Fair in August 2012.

For the latest project, the artist produced a number of potential images, and the chosen image was selected by the Workshop in consultation with Noonan. Unlike many of the Workshop's projects, this artwork will exist only as a tapestry and the original digital image.

This work relates to a body of works in which Noonan utilizes a personal archive of found images to create hand-screened, collaged works on linen. Depicting costumed figures set against richly patterned backgrounds, the subjects seem to be caught between moments of introspection and exhibitionism.

The work is composed of two layers: the face and a superimposed layer of Japanese Boro textiles fashioned from stitched-together rags of previously dyed and bleached fabric. Because of this layering, the weavers are using separate images of each layer to guide their interpretation.

The palette for this work is the same as the 2009 Noonan tapestry. The weavers at first tried to introduce some subtle blues or purples, but ultimately felt that the greyscale palette was more sophisticated and better suited the piece.

In April 2012 this, and Noonan's previous work with the Workshop Untitled 2009 will be heading to Brisbane for exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art.