Alastair R Noble

Babel Babble

My artistic practice is a response to architecture and the natural environment and reflects on particular sites in the context of poetry and literature. Alternative approaches to mapping is the crux of my research, I juxtapose and transform words, signs, symbols and texts into installations, artist’s books, prints and drawings.
The writings of Mallarmé, Marinetti, Mayakovsky, Wittgenstein, Heraclitus have been the genesis of numerous works. The language games invented by Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, evident in his short narratives are the stimulus for installations and and environmental interventions. “The Library of Babel” was transposed into a series of "Babel" installations and “On the Exactitude of Science” formed the basis for investigations into alternative methods of mapping the landscape entitled "Mapping Arcadia."

My drawings are a mediation on the writers’ words that I transpose into multiple layered inscriptions. By hand-copying the lines, they become interwoven into random patterns transforming language into indecipherable calligraphic notations. A significant element of my drawings result in the juxtaposition of the patterns created by the overlapping written notations that reflect the textures within the texts. These drawings are devised in series reflecting on a whole poem or short passages from longer manuscripts.

I have exhibited extensively nationally and internationally including Italy, Denmark, Peru, Chile, Bulgaria and the US and the UK. Periodically, I write on sculpture and architecture for art journals, magazines and catalogues. Additionally, I curate and organizes exhibitions that complement my own research related to mapping. I have taught and lectured at numerous colleges, universities and public institutions. Currently I divide my time between Scotland and the USA where I have a studio in Upstate New York I also have a studio and gallery DunoonMOCA, Dunoon Scotland with a focus on TextArt, Poetry & Artist's Books.Two years ago I established Gnōbilis Press as a means to promote and distribute my artist's books and prints.

Websites
https://www.gnobilis-press.com/
https://arnoble.com/

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

It is a place to focus without interruptions

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

I listen to music & interviews with poets and writers on youtube

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

Paper because of its versatility

What themes do you pursue?

Alternative approaches to mapping

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

“You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.” Samuel Beckett

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

Palazzo Grassi

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

I already have it Duchamp (À l'infinitif) (The White Box)

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

Poet

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

Standing on the shore line looking out to sea

EXHIBITIONS

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