Exposition ‘Not my story’

Debut solo-exhibition street artist Nouch 

18 november – 17 december 2023 

On Saturday, November 18, 2023, the debut solo show of Amsterdam’s street artist Nouchka Huijg, known by her artist name Nouch, opens at the I Love Illustration Gallery in De Hallen, Amsterdam. Her distinctive ‘Air Heads’ have adorned various walls, buildings, and squares in Amsterdam for years as grotesque and gigantic wondrous clouds, full of contrasts. Now, at her first solo exhibition ‘Not my story,’ street artist Nouch tells (no) other story as she makes the transition from the streets to the gallery’s white walls. 

Air Heads 

With their characteristic heads, they float like wondrous clouds on buildings, walls, and squares. Black-and-white Air Heads can be found throughout Amsterdam and beyond, including Palermo. Provocative fine art with a clear symbolism, as sustainability is more relevant than ever. The works are interconnected, forming one big family of balloon heads. The artist draws big-eyed heads reminiscent of those seen in Japanese animated films. “But they are not just cute,” warns Nouch. “Rather, they are both sweet and eerie at the same time. They attract and repel. I love balloons: they are large volumes, but they weigh nothing. They also symbolize how we behave: empty-headed in the way we interact with our environment.”

Sustainable 

Apart from beautifying the neighborhood and conveying an implicit message, Nouch’s ‘airheads’ also contribute to a cleaner living environment. The paint removes bacteria and fine particles from the air. The soot in the ink now resides on the wall instead of in the atmosphere, where it causes lung diseases. Thus, a 1 m2 air-purifying mural with Airlite can have as much impact on the environment as planting 1 m2 of a forest.

Palermo 

Nouch is making a name for herself in the world of street art; in addition to monumental works at places like Krugerplein, Spinozahof, and Het Oosterpark in Amsterdam East, she recently drew a 23-meter high smog-eating head filled with rabbits in the Sicilian capital, Palermo. The artist always sketched in her notebooks and had the desire to scale up her drawings. For her, using the walls in the streets is about the right scale; it appears as a new stage, a new medium to make her drawings even larger.

For this exhibition, she has created around 40 new drawings on paper and wood and three impressive artworks on canvas. A nice personal Art gift idea for your shoe or under the tree.