Noella Roos Drawings and Paintings

As a traditionally trained artist, I have always been interested in using my knowledge of technique to transform my experience of the world around me. As a drawer, my techniques are the tools I use to meet my dancers. I do not have a concept as a statement, rather, the way I work is my concept.

I draw dancers while they are dancing, as quickly as they dance. In a 4-hour session in the studio the dancer and I fall into something like a trance or energy sharing. There are the moments when I, the artist, forget what we are making, forget to judge, forget to think and become free to make work beyond my limits, and to surprise myself. In these moments the dancer and I meet without words.

We embark on a journey of searching together, meeting at a point of freedom in movement in space. Even if my work looks gurative, it is not. It is an abstract gurative drawing based on personal emotions— the dancer dances their dreams and stories, and I follow. I do not work with still models as they don’t move and real life is about movement and constant change. I love the statement from Pina Bausch—’I am not interested in how people move but what moves them’.