The Project

GOLD

We often think of art and sport as separate, but in Gold, Thierry Noir points out their commonalities: whether physical, emotional, or imaginative, each of Noir’s compositions is a full expression of human potential. 

Noir’s Gold series began in 2020 as a studious series of 16-inch tondo paintings, each depicting one of Noir’s playful signature characters’ performance of a sporting discipline. The next year, the artist created digital animations using this source material and the animations were installed on enormous screens in cities including Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo.   

In 2024, Noir returns to the Gold series with an exhibition of paintings at Phillips in New York and an exclusive collaboration with Dropshop – a suite of four ukiyo-e prints produced with the The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints in Tokyo and four new screenprint editions produced in London – the first editioned artworks by Noir in nearly a decade.

“Art and sport both have the power to break down barriers and dissolve political divisions. Sport also talks to the young people and it is very important to me to reach the younger generations with my art.”
– Thierry Noir

© Thierry Noir

Ukiyo-e Suite

Ukiyo-e Suite  
Noir’s Gold ukiyo-e suite of Skateboarding has been made using the same techniques developed in Japan during the 17th century and preserved through generations. The ukiyo-e suite reflects the internationalism of the Gold project and a striking contrast between the old and new.  

Suite of 4 (Teal, Blue, Pink, Orange):
$5,000 (unframed)

Edition of 25

  • Sheet: 10 7/8 x 10 7/8 in. (27.4 x 27.4 cm)
  • Image: 10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (26 x 26 cm)

© Thierry Noir

Screenprints

In Noir’s own words “my art was born for screenprinting with the bright colors and shapes surrounded by the blackline”. Created with master printers in London using an only analogue process, the sporting forms of BMX Racing, Boxing, Surfing and Trampoline have been originated directly by the artist from brush to screen. In homage to the repetitive philosophy of the multiple, each sport is presented in four colourways of blue, orange, pink and teal.  

Individual Prints:
$1,800 (unframed)

BMX Racing 
Boxing
Surfing
Trampoline 

Blue, orange, pink and teal colourways

Editions of 25

  • Sheet size: 25 7/8 x 25 7/8 in. (65.8 x 65.8 cm)
  • Image size: 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in. (60 x 60 cm)

© Thierry Noir

The Exhibition

The Dropshop ukiyo-e suite and screenprints are part of the Gold exhibition at Phillips’ 432 Park Avenue international headquarters. In addition to the framed prints, the woodblocks and traditional hand tools used to create the ukiyo-e suite will be on display on loan from The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints. Noir will also paint a 700 square foot mural inside Phillips and the artist’s Gold digital animations will be broadcast within the Phillips galleries.  

Thierry Noir, Gold  
25 July to 10 August 2024
Phillips  
432 Park Ave
New York, NY 10022 

© Thierry Noir

The Artist

Thierry Noir (b. 1958) is a globally renowned visual artist who originally rose to prominence by illicitly painting large stretches of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. Noir’s objective was to perform one real revolutionary act: to paint the Berlin wall, to transform it, and to help destroy it.   

Noir’s iconic style has a strong emphasis upon line and reduces forms to their most basic elements originally reflecting the exigencies of painting quickly within a hazardous environment. Noir’s vividly colorful imagery captured the zeitgeist of 1980s Berlin and has since become widely known throughout the world. With an artistic career now spanning five decades, Noir remains as active as ever on the international stage. 

© Thierry Noir

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