Noelle Sartori Oberle

Outside

2022

Mixed media on acrylic glass

Image: width 72 x height 86 cm

Frame: width 94 x height 74 cm

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NOELLE SARTORI-OBERLE (* 1970 France)

The artwork Outside by Noelle Sartori-Oberle conveys much more than just the artist's anti-war position. This artwork is a time machine that invites the viewer to journey through time and history, it is also a gateway to different ideologies and perspectives, opinions, and perceptions. Furthermore, it can be interpreted as a self-portrait of the artist facing the future and leaving the past behind. It looks like she doesn't deny the past as the frame is still there, but she has positioned herself outside and above, thereby gaining a healthy distance from her past. The work of art also reflects the inner confrontation with longings and fears and thoughts about the transience of the world. The vanitas symbol - the skull located outside the portrait in the lower right corner of the frame - indicates that the artist is outside of fear, war, and pain. The skull is intended to remind the viewer of the mortality and inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements. Despite the presence of the symbols of impermanence, the artwork Outside also testifies to the self-confidence of its author, who wants to tell us that everything is impermanent, but points out the way out to find a better version of ourselves:

 

Outside the war

Outside the country

Outside of amenities

Outside the dictatorship

outside of death

 

The work can be interpreted as a magnet, with a positive pole and a negative pole, giving us the choice to decide what attracts us more. The artist gives us the choice to be inside or outside of certain circumstances, to choose different paradigms we are programmed to, and to gain strength to overcome death and war.

Outside consists of two elements: the antique gold frame and the portrait on acrylic glass, a modern material. The back of the portrait has a rough texture that symbolizes the turmoil of life and the front has a smooth texture that symbolizes the illusionary side of life.

Beyond that, Outside is about opposites, contradictions and contrasts. The portrait has an extraordinary positioning that is not inside the frame but outside the frame, it stands on edge which is another symbol of instability, fragility and a life that can be destroyed in a second. That is why the portrait is not mounted on the wall but presented as an object on the frame to emphasize the transience and transience of our world.