|
 Thierry Noir:
Born: 1958, Lyon,
France
Moved to Berlin,
Germany in January 1982, where he currently resides.
Just now the world
remembers 20 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But what do
we remember about the art of those days ? Thierry Noir, the man
to who we owe the longest concrete painting in the world.
As "artist
of the month", November 2009, Artbust presents a painter,
who stole the communist regime, the show from the west side:
Thierry Noir.
The A NOTE FROM
THE CURATOR:
The Berlin Wall
was built in 1961. Our artist of the month arrived 20 years later
in 1982. He still claims to be one of the most important of all
artists who sprayed colourful paintings over the boring grey
of the concrete walls of the Berlin wall. He certainly achieved
this to a certain point.
However there were
many more influential artists over the period of 40 years painting
on the Berlin wall.
A recent article
in the local newspaper "Berliner Morgenpost" shows
you a variety of the best 41 selected pictures of art on the
wall (reported in our twitter tweet , dating 12th November)
Thierry Noir was drawn to Berlin from his native Lyon, France,
rather by the likes of of David Bowie and  Iggy
Pop, who lived in West Berlin at this time than art or the wall.
From April 1984, Thierry Noir together with French painter friend
Christophe Bouchet started to paint the Berlin Wall. It is not
known, "why", or what influenced him.
We, Artbust, met Thierry Noir in the late 1990s in order to set-up
a web presentation for him. We had many interviews, meetings.
We shared also many thoughts. His own first website was almost
finished when the project got stuck over costs. We experienced
that instinct of marketing (making money?) of Noir ! Beautiful
crafted sculptures and paintings made soon way for the single
"pop" nose. Do you like it?  You
are still able to see it on our website for Noir, which we re-launch
in his interest.
His bright coloured pop nose is a stereotype, drawn in seconds
sometimes. This is more meant to provoke but also to make money!
And it sells! Decorative art!
It is a fact: His paintings, with their bright colours and their
melancholy poetry in contrast, survived longer than all the other
art on the wall did after the fall of the wall in 1989.
Over the years the paintings took even phenomenal proportions.
The object was not to embellish the wall but to demystify it,
it is said now.
He was passionate and even more politically involved in the project
documented by Artbust, the "Ernst Reuter Platz".
The paintings of Thierry Noir became a symbol of new-found freedom
after the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War.
His "noses"
are handed out by tv presenters in Berlin to their guests. Noir
still manages to keep up with good connections, networking and
marketing!
 Even the rock band
U2 featured the artwork of Thierry Noir. He had painted on Trabants
(an former East German brand of automobile made of plastics -
as seen on the website in one of our original photos). It is
still "parking" in the hard Rock Cafe in Berlin. Photos
of which decorate U2's 1991 album "Achtung Baby", which
itself includes songs (such as 'Zoo Station") that have
themes inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changes
taking place in Europe at the end of the Cold War.
We wish him well,
after we haven't heard from each other for a long time! But for
the anniversary out of public interest we bring back "our"
original website for Noir:
This is the Artbust presentation for Thierry Noir, a great friend
at that time, surely French, but we always loved the kind treats
he gave us on our many encounters: surely a bottle of French
red in the backroom of his showroom in West-Berlin.
Please note that this website is not finished completely and
still have some bugs. The art work is not available for sale
anymore! If you are interested in buying please contact us or
Noir directly.
Noir meanwhile has
found its own website style, which we do link here:
http://www.galerie-noir.de/
It looks much different:
Pop Art. And after the first shock, you realise that it matches
the artwork he puts on display, although, please keep in mind,
that we show a much greater variety of his work.
Curator
Dietmar Bohne
For Artbust Germany
and parent Artbust UK
November 2009 |