“Paul Noble: Welcome to Nobson”, by Rebekah Oppie

An interesting artist for sure, Paul Noble creates works that awe: ornate and elaborate drawings of a seemingly strange and post-apocalyptic city that he calls Nobson Newtown, along with a few sculptures of its inhabitants; people made of excrement. Though it resonates with a tinge of oddity, Noble’s “Welcome to Nobson” collection, as on display in the Gagosian Gallery, demonstrates an incredible amount of creativity and detail in every inch of each piece. He started each of his incredibly precise and intricate drawings from the top left corner, inventing as he goes, slowly erecting the town of Nobson over the span of 15 years. The biggest two-dimensional piece in the Nobson collection is Welcome to Nobson, spanning a massive 4.5 meters tall, spanning toward the ceiling of the gallery. It has been jested that one would need binoculars to see the details scrolling towards top, and to crawl on their knees to see them at the bottom, stifling laughter as they stumble across another joke. Past the oddities in this set of pieces lies a story for every brick; literally, in reference to Noble’s Ah. Each brick on the face of the wall in this piece depicts its own intricately detailed image of thought provoking peculiarities. As the viewer interprets Noble’s works, the first impression at a glance is an intense and serious one, evoked by the flat lighting and geometric constructs throughout the pieces, with an undertone of curiosity as the eye begins to notice strange things within. Then, depending on the viewer, a mixture of either disgust or humor as the graphic images within reveal themselves. Overall, the impression received reads almost like an opera covertly written about fart jokes; Serious or even morbid tones used to intricately spell out an artist’s viewpoint, though touching on taboo subjects, using humor to get the point across. “A visitor’s guide to Nobson might warn you not to enter the maze (there are things in there you don’t want to know about), to keep clear of the slides, and stay away from the hanging tree, with its chains and manacles and festoon of balloons. The toilets are unspeakable and so are the people. The inhabitants – we must be frank – are shits. Actual turds, to be precise. All human life is here, but all of it is excremental. There is a great deal of public sex, if you care to look closely enough, but somehow no one seems to be enjoying it much.” –From “Life in Paul Noble’s excremental city” by Adrian Searle in The Guardian.   Citation

• Searle, Adrian. “Life in Paul Noble’s Excremental City.” The Guardian. 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/nov/15/paul-noble-nobson-review?INTCMP=SRCH>.
• “Paul Noble – November 10 – December 17, 2011 – Gagosian Gallery.” Gagosian Gallery. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/paul-noble–november-10-2011>.
• “Paul Noble – November 10 – December 17, 2011 – Images – Gagosian Gallery.” Gagosian Gallery. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/paul-noble–november-10-2011/exhibition-images>.