French artist François Noël paints geometrical abstractions that challenge our perception of time and space. Noël’s passion for straight lines was first ignited when working for an architect in London, drawing blueprints. There he grew fascinated with the angularity of skyscrapers and the way the light was reflected on the glass facades, day and night. An admirer of French-Hungarian Op Art pioneer Victor Vasarely, Noël undertook his own quest for optical wizardry; gauging how far he could push a flat surface to three-dimensionality. Using square and rectangle shapes in primary colors, Noël magnetizes the viewer into tunnels of galactic matter; games of mirrors that project our vision into the infinity of space; quadrilateral panels receding, rearranging, and rotating like giant Rubik’s cubes.

To achieve this effect, he uses a combination of acrylic, gouache, and spray paint on plexiglass or Dibond–an aluminum composite panel–supports that help him convey greater smoothness and depth. The illusion is brought even further when the work is hung before a source of light. The resulting palette is a darker, brighter version of the original that takes on an even more mystical quality. Noël’s wonderous spectacles of make-believe challenge our power of observation. The dramas he stages follow a shifting choreography, where players come and go at will; luring us in, spinning us around, until we don’t quite know where we first started or where we ought to go next.

Noël won several awards and exhibited his work in France, Spain, Switzerland, and New York, most notably at the Vasarely Foundation, Aix-en-Provence, France, and the Art Capital Grand Palais, Paris, France. He lives and works in Aix-en-Provence.