By
Noel Hefele
Piece description from the artist
"See Daylighting Tibbetts Here / Stream of Continuity" captures a transformative vision along the old Putnam railroad adjacent to the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx. This painting anticipates the green rebirth of an urban space, where a significant green infrastructure project is slated to begin in 2025, including the daylighting of a historical stream. Inspired by the juxtaposition of enduring natural processes against the fleeting human-made structures, this piece meditates on the themes of renewal and urban ecological restoration.
The choice of a muted yet hopeful color palette reflects the present state of the location—a blend of greys and earth tones punctuated by vibrant graffiti—that symbolizes the potential life and color soon to burst forth from this redevelopment. As an American landscape painter, I employ a blend of loose and refined oil techniques to echo the chaotic yet structured urban environment.
This artwork is a part of my ongoing exploration into the narratives of landscapes undergoing transformation. It's a reminder of nature's resilience and the human role in shaping and reshaping our environmental contexts. Through "Stream of Continuity," I invite viewers to reflect on the cyclic nature of decay and renewal, and the layers of history that are often hidden in plain sight.
Noel Hefele is a talented landscape painter with a diverse background in the arts. Born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut, he received his BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2002 and later earned a MA in Arts and Ecology from a school in England. Throughout his career, Noel has had the opportunity to exhibit his work internationally and has pieces in numerous private collections. He has also served on the board of the non-profit community arts organization PLGarts in Brooklyn, New York and co-teaches a graduate course at Brooklyn College called Human Tracks in the Urban Landscape. In 2013 and 2014, Noel was the Artist in Residence at the Barbuda Archeological Research center in the Caribbean.
Currently, Noel resides and works in the Bronx, New York where he is in the process of exploring Van Cortlandt Park and creating a new body of work. As an artist, Noel believes in the power of art to help us move towards a more responsible and holistic understanding of the environment. He sees the landscape as an entangled field of relationships that includes humans, animals, plants, minerals, and more, and believes that by viewing the non-human world as more than just objects, we can take responsibility for our impact on the planet and recognize that we are not the sole subjects of the Earth's narrative. Through his art, Noel aims to collaborate with the landscape in order to produce effects in himself and others, aesthetically and emotionally reconfiguring the way we see the world.
For more information and to see more of Noel's work, visit www.facebook.com/NoelHefeleStudios.
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