Written on the occasion of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2011,
Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH, U.K., November 2011.
Noel Hensey’s work sits calmly in the doorway. It is not so much to occupy the threshold, but more to insist on a presence that might keep the door open. On either side of the door, depending on where you stand, are any number of binaries - inside or outside, imagination and reality, experiences that we might designate as aesthetic or not.
Hensey’s practice involves an assemblage of video, photography, sound, and found objects, often arranged as a multi-part installation of simple but profound slippages between words, concepts and appearances. From a picture snapped on a trip to the store, a scene from The Big Lebowski, or a car windshield standing on a plinth with its rearview mirror, Hensey finds in the super-mundane the seeds of its own mutations - the visible embodies a moment of insight, its presence becoming a range possible meanings that then might return, in another form, as our own personal moments. There is a shifting circularity to his aural analogies and visual stand-ins, puns and approximations that keep a singular form while also becoming unmoored to slide back and forth through the open door.
'Dublin: Noel Hensey at Ivy House'
Emer Marron (Senior Administrator in Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin.)
Article reproduced from CIRCA 110, Winter 2004, p.95.
In the heart of Drumcondra on Dublin city's northern edge, The Ivy House pub and restaurant exhibits an active visual-arts programme. Curated by Claire Halpin, this stylish venue creates an invaluable platform for the emerging artist, showcasing Rollage by Noel Hensey during autumn 2004.
Over several years, Hensey has accumulated a myriad of visual miscellany. Drawings, photographs, printed matter, text pieces, artwork prints, computer files, in fact any found imagery that warrants attention. Working from this eclectic library, Hensey has created two distinctive aesthetics. Arranging images into a visual labyrinth, Hensey selects smaller, more intelligent groups making single compositions or "open sequences." Balancing the aesthetic with more conceptual or suggestive material, an inherent if ethereal relationship within the assemblage is evident. The work is encased in deep perspex boxes that follow the stepped outline of each composition. The definite, angular contours contrast with the fluidity of Hensey's train of thought. Visually simplified, the second strand of Rollage manipulates single images using computer software and other methods. Final images are produced in an imposing scale using digiprint. The superior quality of the digiprint process transforms even the simplest composition into work rich in colour and tonal subtly.
Indicative of the contemporary artist, Hensey moves with ease from traditional to technological processes. Balanced with some humour, Hensey is predisposed to philosophical exploration. The serenity of Rollage is almost incongruous in a public bar, yet this juxtaposition empowers the work.