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Artist Christel Maria Nolle works with various modes of expression. She is, by nature, extremely aware of and observant when it comes to her surroundings, absorbing every detail and impression. And it is because of this that she feels a need to share her experiences through multiple expressions, to achieve as much subtle variation as possible.
In her works on paper, we get a sense of freedom and an artist on a loose leash. This is her intuitive space where she can play and disconnect her mind, as it were, and, unhindered, work her way forward with the various elements – the familiar telephone drawings, patterns, lines, quadrilaterals, colour fields, clippings from newspapers and magazines – stopping when her gut feeling tells her she has found the right expression.
Not so with her paintings, where she adopts a more structured approach, working towards a conscious goal. Here, the pictorial expression is vivid, telling a story. Christel Maria is passionate about her art, and her commitment and enthusiasm shine through her works. Surrounding herself with her ethnographic collection of African masks, sculptures, embroidery, glass and ceramics is an important part of the creative process for her. Warm details – and ideally plenty of them – provide energy and inspiration for her works. Her pictorial universe can be perceived almost as woven colour surfaces with sculptural forms as the structural elements. Christel Maria has a wonderful sense of colour and the way colours react when put together and compared with each other. She knows how they will interact and how this union will pan out. The colours are applied, drawn up, rubbed out and confidently worked into the painting. The pictures are round and detailed, but without being overcrowded.
She gives the beholder space with the addition of small neutral fields, where you have time for a breather before continuing on your journey through the painting.
Captivating fragments and contours emerge from the surface, and you half expect the individual fragments to open up. Some of the fields of colour are open, appearing quite insistent at times – “look at me, look at me” – without tipping the balance of the painting. They are pulled back by the other elements and everything melts together into a harmonious whole. There is a fantastic balance in Christel Maria’s works and no single element leaps out at you from the whole. It is not a solid surface you experience, but an openness and a responsiveness that let you into the painting, and her motif universe is not experienced all at once. The eye treks across the surface, taking in new experiences all the way around.
In recent years, Christel Maria become fascinated with working in bronze. This classic sculpture tradition enables her to find a fine balance between the properties of the material and its nature in order to express her artistic ideas in a way quite unlike her painting. Her bronze sculptures beautifully underline and complement her works. Inspired, among other things, by rugged rock formations, marble sculptures, ceramic vases and African art, she creates her beautiful sculptures. The “gold nuggets” are asking to be touched. They are full of drama and appear enormously powerful, and yet retain a real elegance about them. This is fine design in all its simplicity. Christel Maria Nolle performs like a horse in sawdust in all her artistic expressions. She is accustomed to the stage and supremely confident. There is no doubt that she is in control of what she does and where she is heading.
© By Kirsten-Marie Hedeland, host of the Danish TV show “Kunst for Tiden” (Art of our times) and writer for the art journal “Kunstavisen”, January 2016
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Kunstner Christel Maria Nolle har flere forskellige udtryk, som hun arbejder med. Hun er af natur meget opmærksom og iagttagen på sine omgivelser. Og netop fordi hun suger alle detaljer og indtryk til sig har hun behov for at dele sine oplevelser ud på flere forskellige udtryk, for at få det så nuanceret som muligt.
I sine papirværker får vi fornemmelsen af frihed og en kunstner på slap line. Her er hendes intuitive rum, hvor hun kan lege og så at sige koble tankerne fra og bare arbejde sig let og ubesværet frem med de forskellige elementer; de velkendte telefontegninger, mønstre, streger, firkanter, farve felter, udklip fra aviser og magasiner. En mavefornemmelse stopper hende når rette udtryk viser sig.
Anderledes forholder det sig i hendes malerier, hvor hun binder sig selv mere op på struktur og et bevidst mål. Hun er meget levende og fortællende i dette billedelige udtryk. Christel Maria er passioneret i og omkring sit arbejde med kunsten og hendes engagement og virkelyst lyser ud af værkerne. Hun omgiver sig med sin etnografiske samling i form af afrikanske masker, skulpturer, broderier, glaskunst – og keramik, hvilket er vigtigt for hende i skabelsesprocessen. Varme detaljer og helst rigtig mange af dem giver energi og inspiration til hendes værker. Hendes billedunivers kan opleves nærmest som vævede farve flader med skulpturelle former som bærende elementer. Christel Maria har en rigtig god fornemmelse for farverne og deres måde at reagere på når de mødes og holdes op mod hinanden. Hun kender deres indbyrdes påvirkning og deres endelige udtryk. Farverne lægges på, der tegnes op, viskes ud og arbejdes selvsikkert ind i maleriet. Billederne er runde og fyldige, men uden at være overfyldte.
Hun giver beskueren plads ved at lave små neutrale felter, hvor man lige kan puste ud inden man fortsætter sin rejse gennem maleriet.
Brudstykker og konturer træder frem fra fladen, de fanger og man ligefrem venter på at de enkelte fragmenter lukker sig mere op. Nogle farvefelter er åbne og kan virke meget insisterende – ”se mig, se mig”, men de vælter ikke balancen og tipper maleriet. De hives tilbage af de øvrige elementer og det hele smelter sammen til en harmonisk helhed. Der er en super god balance i Christel Marias værker og man oplever ikke nogle delelementer der stikker af fra helheden og springer os i øjnene. Det er ikke en massiv flade man oplever, men en åbenhed og imødekommenhed der lukker os ind i maleriet og man har ikke lige på en gang overstået oplevelsen i hendes motivverden. Øjet tager på vandring og der er nyt at opleve hele vejen rundt.
I de senere år er Christel Maria blevet fascineret af arbejdet med bronze. Indenfor denne klassiske skulpturtradition, får hun muligheden for at, finde en fin balance mellem materialets egenskab og dets natur for derved at kunne udtrykke sine kunstneriske ideer på en helt anden måde end med maleriet. Hendes bronze skulpturer understreger og komplimentere så fint hendes værker. Med inspirationen fra blandt andet rå klippe formationer, marmorskulpturer, keramiske vaser og afrikansk kunst skaber hun sine smukke skulpturer. ”Guldklumperne” animere til berøring. De er fulde af dramatik og virker enormt kraftfulde, men alligevel har de en fuldendt elegance over sig. Det er meget fin formgivning i al sin enkelthed. Christel Maria Nolle optræder i alle sine kunstneriske udtryk, som en hest i savsmuld. Hun er scenevant og meget selvsikker. Der er ingen tvivl om at hun har styr på hvad hun gør og hvilken vej hun vil gå.
©Af kirsten-Marie Hedeland, tv programvært på ”Kunst for Tiden” og skribent ved Kunstavisen, januar 2016
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