Studioas Setting :

The Paintings of Scott NoelThrough the careful orchestrationof figures and still life objects,this Philadelphia oil painter useshis studio as the setting for bothnatural and metaphorical scenes.

by Ephraim Rubenstein

I n Scott Noel's Studying the Studio, the artist'sworkspace opens up before you, filled withlight and air. As your eye strolls around, you

sense every foot of available space in the studio.You feel how, as you enter, you must be careful toavoid the space heater and to walk around thetable arranged with pots. Once inside the studio,you might move over to the right wall to examinea paindng that has caught your eye, before yousettle finally into the armchair in the corner. Whileresting comfortably in the chair, you can stare outinto the expansive cityscape, a reminder that spacecontinues to unfold infinitely beyond the studio'swindows and that it is deeply pleasurable to haveit more intimately contained in the artist's studio.

While some artists confine themselves to work-ing in one or two genres, Noel paints in every con-ceivable form—interior, cityscape, still life, figure,portraiture, and narrative painting. Noel's eye isvoracious, his aesthetic ambition high, if one of

20 American Artist

his life's projects has been to paint in all of thesegenres, another has been to combine them insuch unexpected ways as to bafïle the viewer'sbasic preconceptions about these categories. Andthe place that he uses as the visual staging groundfor these uncanny admixtures is the studio.

For Noel, the studio is a deeply charged place.It is the through-line that links all his endeavors,the crucible into which he throws all his artisticingredients. We sense this undertaking even inthe empty studio. The space heater reminds usthat a nude model will soon be present and willneed to be kept warm. The table suggests thatobjects from the real world will soon besequestered from their everyday functions andconscripted for examination under the artist'sscrutiny. The chair will let models, friends, andstudents sit for their portraits and discuss worksin progress. Even the very walls of the room, withartwork tacked up on its surfaces, remind us thatthe studio, not the museum, is the place for look-ing at art, for criticizing, and for learning.

One of the most prominent sights in Studyingthe Studio is the tantalizing cityscapc outside thewindow. It is the source of all the light in thepainting, and it draws your eye to it like a mag-net. It presents a dazzling impression of light.created by radiant puzzle-piece blocks of color.

Noel dearly spends a great deal of time look-ing out of these windows. Seasons, weather, andtime of day all contribute to the variety of his

www myAmerlcanArtlBt.com

February Morning East200^1, oii or linen, 56x60-All artwork this article courtesyGross Me Cleat Gailery,Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia,unless otherwise indicated.

LEFT

Studying the Studio2002, oil on linen, 40 x 64,

www.myAm e ticanArtlst. com May 2009 21

BELOW

White Summer2005, oil on linen, 30 x 32.

observations. February Morning East is a stunning exampleof the kind of visual record of these views he has beenkeeping over the past decade. In this piece the light is crys-tal clear, the space pellucid. The viewer has an exhilaratingsense of soaring through downtown Philadelphia, usingstreets, buildings, and water towers as landmarks for theflight. And yet tliis painting makes you realize thatcityscapes, for Noel, are largely visual. Although they candepict the urban grunge, they are not in it. They are abovethe fray. Noel is not the man on the street as much as he isthe philosopher looking down from the heights. Seen fromthe upper windows oftall office buildings, Noel's cityscapesare meant to be contemplated rather than entered.

Noel enjoys comparing the studio to his mind. like hisbrain, it contains his thoughts and the private world of hisinterior consciousness. The windows are his eyes—themeans by which he takes in stimuli from the outside world.If the windows act as the lenses through which Noel inter-acts with the world at large, then the window frame

becomes an extremely charged architec-tural element. It not only demarcatestlie boundary between inside and out-side but also celebrates tlie constantback and forth between public and pri-vate, internal and external reality. WhiteSummer speaks to just this dialogue.The subtle diagonals of the windowmullions, echoing the edges of thepainting itself, remind us that this isonly a view, a veduta, and that theimmediate reality is inside, in the worldof the studio with its moldings holdingus safely inside.

oel was born in 1955 inCharlotte, North Carolina, andrecalls drawing constantly as a

child, mostly from photographs. Heattended Washington University in St.Louis where he studied with such influ-ential teachers as Barry Schactman,Arthur Osver, and David Hollowell. Hebegan M.F.A. programs at both TylerSchool of Art, in Philadelphia, and YaleUniversity, in New Haven, Connecticut,but abandoned graduate work to go outon his own in 1982. Most of his knowl-

edge of the "craft and cuisine" of painting he acquired on hisown "from dose looking at the many painters, past and pres-ent, tliat I admire," he says. This pantheon includes historicalfigures such as }acques-Louis David, Chardin, and Degas, aswell as more contemporary figures, such as Edv̂ dn Dickinson,Antonio Lopez Garcia, and Lucian Freud. Quite catholic in histaste, Noel has the amazing ability to draw from widely dis-parate sources and still make his borrowings consistently hisown. Noel has taught continuously in and around Philadelphiasince 1983. Of teaching, he remarks, "The necessity of mak-ing ideas concrete in the classroom has been a great stimulusfor organizing my unruly enthusiasms."

Noel is an extraordinarily gifted teacher. SamanthaSimmons, a Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts senior,says of Noel, "Scott is one of the most passionate people Ihave ever met. He has a contagious excitement in class, andif students are willing to listen, Scott is there to encouragethem." Noel is inherently generous, but also demanding.Former student David Campbell recalls, "Scott was one of

22 American Artist www.rayAraericanArtlst.cDni

BELOW

Discipline and Desire2002, oil on linen. 48 x 50.

www. myAme ncanAmst .com May 2009 23

LEFT

Daisy Substation2004, pastel, 64 x 40.

BELOW LEFT

Portrait oí Vivian2005, oil on linen,30 X 48.

OPPOSITE PAGE

Under theSkylight2007, oil on linen60 X 44.

the first people to confront me, to stress that I shouldn'tthink of my paintings as precious and that if it wasn't work-ing, I should scrape it down and start over again. All of hisprovocations prompted an attitude in me to take more risks,which 1 believe is the only way to get better as a painter."Even to speak casually to Noel is to make you aware that hisrole as a teacher is inseparable from his role as a painter. Heis what one might call an "involuntary teacher"—elucidationjust comes out. He will be talking to you, and then he willstart to explain, clarify, reference, and make analogy. AsSimmons remarks, "He can make you see the formal simi-larities between a De Kooning and an Ingres."

Noel invariably introduces people and objects from theoutside world into the inner world of his studio. like a mas-ter stage director, he populates his studio/stage with still lifeobjects, single figures, and figures involved in narrative dra-mas. Daisy Substation brings these inner and outer worldsinto direct relation. In the painting, the view out the windowis as much on top of the woman as it is behind her. It func-tions as a kind of rectangular "thought bubble," bringingnews from the outside world to this vulnerable figure—nude and huddled in the studio as if for warmth and protec-tion. She is soft, warm, private: the view is hard, public, glar-ing. The relationship is further echoed by her pose: herthighs and knees are in a position similar to the shape ofthe substation itself, a visual echo of the aesthetic kinship.

Figures introduced into the studio often have some refer-ence to either the painting or the teaching process. Underthe Skylight, for instance, is a loving narrative describing theworking relationship between arñst and model. A sort ofhomage to Eakins' late paintings of William Rush and hismodels, the piece depicts tlie artist taping the position of themodel's feet so that she can break from her pose. The paint-ing depicts one of those in-between moments: not the heatof creation or the languor of one of Degas' dancer's breaksbut a transitional moment between work and rest, a synco-pated beat rarely struck in painting. In addition. Under theSkylight—like so many of Noel's paintings—contains anintriguing mixture of old and new resonances. The figureitself reads like a 19th-century académie, complete with ropeto keep the arm raised. But the feeling of the painting ismodem, with its light, airy tonality, the unusual cropping ofthe artist's feet, and the bending perspective of the beams.

Even when the reference to the world of painting and thestudio is not so direct, it is almost always hinted at throughsubtle cues. While most artists place tlieir portrait subjects meither a neutral setting or in a location related to the subject'slife and world, Noel insists on placing the subject in his world,in the arena of the studio. In Portrait of Vivian, there is a studiodrawing pinned up on the wall behind the figure, and one ofthe chairs—like a character in a novel we have come to knowand love—is familiar to us from Studying the Studio. Tlie opendoor expresses the model's comings and goings, as does theintriguing little still life on the table consisting of wallet,money, and keys, as if Vivian had emptied her pockets uponarriving to make herself more comfortable for her sitting.

At Noel's moments of highest ambition, figures com-bine with other figures to make complex narratives aboutpainting and teaching. In Bill's Master Class, Noel's friendand fellow Philadelphia painter Bill Scott sits critiquing astudent's work. The painting combines a radical empiri-cism with a classical organization, the two poles of theartist's imagination. On the one hand, Scott is depicted in aT-shirt and in a pose so casual that he might as well be

24 American Artist www.myAmeiicaiiAitist .com

watching a Sunday afternoon football game. On the otherhand, the musical line made by heads, arms, and handssets up a formal rhythm that could have come from aGreek funerary frieze. As an abstract movement, it has atits center Scott's gesturing hand, a hand that electrifies theempty space between it and the work under discussion.

In addition to figures, still life objects invariably emi-

grate into Noel's studio world. Sometimes—as with tables,chairs, and canvases—these objects seem a logical part ofwhat one would find in the studio. In other cases, however,they can seem incongruously gathered together—importedeither to tell a story or for the sheer joy of being groupedtogether. Pitchers, vases, fruit, and all kinds of delectablesweet things participate, in the artist's words, in a "volup-

26 American Artist www. myAtnenDanAttiBt .com

RIGHT

Bill's Master Class2005, oil on linen. 49 x 79.

OPPOSITE PAGE

Still Life With StreetPeaches2005, oil on linen, 46 x 42.

tuous mingling of objects." Noel's congregants sing with aBaroque jubilance that makes you smile vi'ith delight.

Still Life With Street Peaches is just such a jo>'flil vv-ork. Thecomposition leads the viewer from one delicious confection toanother. Two tables are necessary—one could not possiblycontain this visual largesse; cookies, muffins, and peachesspill out of the canvas. And it is in his sumptuous still lifepaintings that one best recognizes what a beautiful coloristNoel is. His tonality is high-keyed and bright, like a clear sum-mer morning. His palette is rich but subtle as well, alwayspicking up reflected hues from one adjacent area to another.

One of Noel's most intriguing compositions is his deeplysensuous Discipline and Desire. The painting weaves almostall of tlie artist's concerns—^interior space, still life, and thefigure—into a revealing personal narrative. Noel presents uswith a typically incongruous combination of bakery goodsand tools of the trade—a brush, an oversized tube of oilpaint, along witli supermarket muffins and doughnuts. Theviewer's first sensation is of theyumminess of it all, with everythingbathed in icing that drips onto thetable and with niuffms burstingVkdth chocolate chips.

We get a hint early on that thepainting may be moving us towardparable when we realize that Noelpays as much attention to the con-tainers and wrappers as he does tothe objects themselves. The con-trast between wrapped andunwrapped is at the heart of thepainting and alerts us to the ideathat desire may undress things thatdiscipline might otherwise keepunder wraps.

The nudes on the wall are equally appealing, witli theirlanguid limbs spilling across the page. In fact, everything inthe painting is desirable; an embarrassment of delights forthe senses. What, then, is the role of the dog, who enters thepainting nose first, smelling, scouting out when and whereto jump up on the table? The fact tliat the dog is kept onsuch a short leash by his master—in this case, the artist'swife, Ian—makes us recognize that the painting is, in fact, afull-bore allegory, an apologue of appetite. In Noel's teemingmind, all of his desires—visual, gustatory, erotic—are allscrambled together. It is only through the discipline ofpainting—by using the bnish and the tube of paint—thatNoel is able to keep reality controlled and measured and canfinally make something beautiful and abiding out of all ofhis unruly enthusiasms. •

Ephraim Rubenstein is an artist and faculty member at the ArtStudents League of New York and the National Academy of DesignSchool, both in New York City.

About the ArtistScott Noel has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions,and his work hangs in dozens of corporate, private, and publiccoilections, including the Museum of the Pennsylvani;i Academy of the FineArts and the Woodmere Art Museum, both in Philadelphia, and theArkansias Arts Center, in Little Rock. He earned a B.F.A. from WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis, in Missouri, and pursued graduate work at YaleUniversity, in New Haven, Connecticut, and at Tyler School of Art at TempleUniversity, in Philadelphia. Noel currentiy teaches at the PennsylvaniaAcademy of the Fine Arts. He is represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery, inPhiladelphia. For more information, visit www.grossmcleaf.com.

www. myAmericanAitlst .com May 2009 27

Copyright of American Artist is the property of Interweave Press, LLC and its content may not be copied or

emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission.

However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.