To inaugurate this new series of articles on gilders exploring fields other than that of restoration, I decided to talk about Xavier Noël. A Strasbourg gilder with many faces ...
So, of course, I appreciate his work from a technical point of view, I also appreciate that he never makes a secret of the way he works (in a field where the culture of secrecy is very widespread, it is rare), but above all it makes me laugh a lot!
The uninhibited humor underlying his works goes straight to my heart: that of his strange fetishes ... as well as his tender flick (even a big sticking tongue?) In THE gilding. He thus succeeds in the feat of being respectful (of a technique, of a story) while having fun stepping aside and happily digging his own furrow, that of a guy of his time.
Finally a little oxygen in this very serious world of gold leaf gilding: the time has come for pop gilding, which shows that it can be adapted to anything!
Initially, Xavier Noël was a gilder with a "classic" background: CAP of gilder-ornamentalist, trained in gilding at Atelier Meyer afterwards - does this explain that? - a degree in Plastic Arts and Art History from the University of Strasbourg.
He opened his workshop in 2012, but from 2013 ... it seems that wood, repair, cardboard and gold, elements specific to classic gilded wood, have access to a life of their own. Literally embarking in their passage with hairs, strings, feathers and other woolen pompoms, all these elements are then rearranged in masks, in crazy carnival totems, half-chic, half-ethnic, very colorful. Unless it is the puppets, the Rabbids or the Mr. and Mrs. Patate of a child who would have been left, in all confidence, to play in a gilding workshop ?! A child who also started making colorful insects.
In 2015, he also won the Prix de la Jeune Création Métiers d'Art from the Ateliers d'Art de France, and his creations were exhibited at the Salon Révélation, at the French Arts Factory gallery.
They will be visible at the next Salon Résonances (2019) and you can follow his tribulations on Instagram, and Facebook.
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