Michael Noonan
Artist Statement
My artworks are electric in range. I have done portraits – of imagined people, of movie stars, of historical subjects, and of figures of myth, literature and folklore - figurative works, crowd scenes, pictures of animals, images of mythical creatures, images of flowers, real and invented, some landscapes, city and townscapes, interiors, pictures of statues and monuments, real and imagined, pictures of castles and ruins, silhouettes, as well as cartoons and comic images. Though my main interest is in imaginative and surreal imagery. And of late I have been doing more non-representational and abstract artworks; some in colour and others in black and white. By stepping outside the world of identifiable and familiar forms, works of abstract art go beyond all the previous boundaries of art, and put the onus of interpretation onto the viewer, to make of them what they choose. I have done some gouache paintings, and watercolours. Though most of my works are coloured and black and white line drawings, and acrylic paintings, on paper, board and canvas. These works vary in size from miniatures to A2 in size and larger. The artists that I admire, and that have influenced me in my own work, are Bosch, Goya, Turner, Piranesi, and in particular his nightmarish prison illustrations, Fuseli, William Blake, Manet, Edward Hopper, and others. Though I have a particular fondness for the great surrealist artists, such as Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Chirico and Yves Tanguy. I like the imaginative, dreamlike, and subversive nature of their work, that plays with reality to create an alternative world that reflects the dreams, hopes, fears and desires of the human psyche.
A Thoughtful Moment
The Gang
Lady in Shadow
Biography
Michael Noonan comes from Halifax (home of the Piece Hall), West Yorkshire. Has a background in retail, food production and office work. He has had artworks published in literary journals in the US, UK, and internationally, including After the Pause, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Noctivigant Press, Baby Teeth Journal, the Odd Magazine, Wild Roof Journal, Press Pause Press, the Hooghly Review, Last Leaves Magazine, The Concrete Desert Review, 805 Lit+Art!, Qwerty, Suspended Magazine, Full House Literary Magazine, and Spellbinder, literary and arts quarterly. He won a runners up prize for a black and white line drawing in a competition run by Arts and Illustrators Magazine in the UK. His drawings, “The Pedestrian Centre,” and “Fun Girl,” for which he has been awarded certificates, were shown at the CityScapes and Figurative art exhibitions, run by the Light, Space and Time online art gallery in America; and can be seen on their YouTube videos. His own works can be seen on the cover of a volume of his short stories, SEVEN TALL TALES and novella, Deadman's Treasure. He admires the great surrealist artists like Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, and Chirico; and his particular favourite is Yves Tanguy. He likes the subversive and the dreamlike quality of their work, and many of his own artworks have a tendency towards the offbeat and the unusual.