NOEL  W.

 ANDERSON  
Mixed  media  visual  artist  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Press  Kit  
 
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  
ARTIST  STATEMENT  
 
Jacquard  Tapestries  
These objects and displays are the ground for images captured from archival and
contemporary sources. Both bureaucratic and commercial references seek to make the
tapestry more than a surface. These are sites where body politics and myth combine as
networks of manipulation. Through the investigation of process the viewer may anticipate
police looming behind black male bodies standing in a line, and public artifacts looming in
the social consciousness. In considering the pulp of paper and fabric, the viewer confronts
malleability of human forms and the effects of idol-making culture on empathy. Concepts and
images align and rotate, radiating inward to confront mainstream distancing from black life.
This is a demonstration of complicated accessibility. This is administration as verb, the images
in concert with cool-blooded institutionalized violence.

The use of cotton and its attendant vocabulary once woven is an intricate exchange with
American history. The grain of images, the “nap of the weave,” the wavering borders suggest
the margin creeps into the frame. Collapse is irresistible. Loose threads and the natural warp
of the material represent a glitch that invites viewers to revisit their memories and notions.
The Jacquard weave recalls analog while accompanying sound and video further develop the
artist’s dialogue with how technological developments have changed our seeing. The digital
artifact doesn’t glitch or slip. This trains a contemporary eye to trust the given image. The
simultaneous familiarity and distortion of these ground images welcome viewers, while forcing
them to physically shift in order to register the tapestries’ meanings. This is an exercise in
perspective alteration.
 
 
 
 
BIOGRAPHY  

Born in Louisville, KY Noel W Anderson holds three degrees: a BFA from Ohio Wesleyan
University, a MFA from Indiana University in Printmaking, and a MFA from Yale University in
Sculpture. He holds the rank of Clinical Assistant Professor, and Area Head of Printmaking in
NYU’s Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions.

Anderson utilizes print-media and arts-based-research to explore philosophical inquiry

methodologies. He primarily focuses on the mediation of socially constructed images on
identity formation. Anderson questions the pragmatic epistemologies of identities as formed
through images. Anderson exhibits nationally and internationally.
   
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  
PRESS  IMAGES  
 
Studies for Blak Origin Moment
February 23- March 25, 2017
Miller Gallery (Cincinnati, OH)

Escapism (SOS), 2017

Wo/man 5 (He’s Mean), 2017
Epson transfer on woodblock
Erased Ebony Magazine page
print and dirt on erased Ebony
10” x 13”
Magazine page

Foghorn Leghorn, 2017 Sportsman II, 2017

Bird leg and black rubber Mixed media on bleached tapestry
12” x 9” 15” x 18”

Anderson, N. W. (Other). (2017). Solo Exhibition: Studies for Blak Origin Moment (Miller Gallery. Cincinnati, OH).
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  
Blak Origin Moment
February 10- June 18, 2017
Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH)
Curated by Steven Matijcio; Organized by the Contemporary Arts Center

“From tattered old rugs to mechanically-produced tapestries, Anderson embeds a spectrum of fibers
with found images and physical usage just long enough to fray their edges and challenge their
legibility. Blak Origin Moment continues this course as Anderson pushes his study into the fraught
post-Ferguson era of Black Lives Matter and heightened racial tensions in the United States. Prompted
by the provocative question, “when did you know you were black?” he collects oral, artifact-based and
visual histories to ultimately restructure the origin and genealogy of black consciousness. The works in
this show attempt to locate an elusive black essence by way of images, sound, and objects which, for
Anderson, “evoke moments where racial recognition is heightened,” but resolution is
deferred…Amidst labyrinthine sheets of black rubber suspended from the ceiling, an upended police
barricade and surreal portraits that fuse the victims and agents of recent police shootings into single
faces, Blak Origin Moment collectively frustrates the access, clarity and definition we desire. Instead,
Anderson highlights a contingent state of identity, the plurality of “blackness,” and encounters that
are as poignant as they are partial.” (CAC)
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  

Puppe (self-portrait), 2017

Doll
22” x19”

Der Raub/ Stanford Rapist, 2017

Jacquard tapestries (2 panels)
74” x104”

Arbeiten: Phat Diptych, 2017

Engraved Jacquard tapestry
14” x 22”

Escapism, 2017
Digital print on erased Ebony pages
(3 count, each individually framed)

Anderson, N. W. (Other). (2017). Solo Exhibition: Blak Origin Moment (Contemporary Arts Center. Cincinnati, OH).
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  

Speaking of People: Ebony and Contemporary Art

Novembe  r 13, 2014- March 8, 2015
The Studio Museum (Harlem, NY)
Organized by Lauren Haynes, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection.
 
“Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art explores the ways contemporary artists use
Ebony and Jet as a resource and as inspiration in their practices. Published by Johnson Publishing
Company for over sixty years, both magazines are cultural touchstones for many African Americans
and often represent a commonality between people of diverse backgrounds. Considering Ebony and
Jet from a variety of perspectives—as journalistic material and important documenters of black life, as
metaphor for African-American culture and as theoretical spaces for black thought and exchange—the
exhibition examines the magazines’ material and cultural legacy as artists perceive them. While much
of the work in the exhibition utilizes Ebony and Jet imagery and text as source material, for some, the
concept of these iconic publications and their institutional histories provides the starting point for
artistic production. As popular, widely-circulated print publications, the magazines ushered in a
particular phenomenon of collection and display in black domestic spaces. Somewhat analogously,
many of the artists included in Speaking of People maintain their own personal archives of these iconic
publications.” (Studio Museum of Harlem)  
 
 
  Black Past-iche
  (to be looked at far away)
  Epson print and collage on
  erased Ebony pages in double
  sided walnut frame with mixed
media rug
 
 
 
 
  Black Past-iche
(to be looked at far away)
 
Epson print and collage on
 
erased Ebony pages in double
  sided walnut frame with mixed
  media rug
 
 
 

Anderson, N. W. (2014-2015). Speaking of People: Ebony and Contemporary Art (Studio Museum of Harlem. New York, NY).
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  
 
SELECTED  PRESS  
 
Maria Seda-Reeder for CityBeat
February 22, 2017
Cincinnati, OH

 
 
  Museum Publicity
  January 20, 2017
  Image from Jack Tilton Gallery
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NOEL  W.  ANDEROSN  
 
ARTIST  IMAGE  
 

         
 
 
 
CONTACT  
 
Studio email: nwa1studio@gmail.com
Manager email: Monique Long- monique@moniquelong.com

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