Noelle Phares’s newest body of work entitled “Salty and Dark” represents a departure from her typical focus on environmental impacts to landscape, turning instead towards more personal subjects. The 22 paintings in the collection originate from a residence in southern France and include works on panel, St. Mary’s cotton canvas, and ostrich egg. Phares, who has some French heritage, was pregnant with her first child at the time and sees the work as a meditation on the mixture of complicated feelings she held around motherhood and what the landscapes of the area evoked in her during that time. The palettes are notably soft in comparison to the artists’ general work, and the compositions ripe with feminine symbolism including nods to florals, felines, and female portraiture while still centering primarily on landscape and area-specific architecture.

Says the artist about the work: “So much about that time felt salty and dark - I was greatly unsettled by what I perceived to be the impending restrictions of motherhood on my previously adventurous and freewheeling life while the physical toll of pregnancy felt suffocating. But after I met my little daughter I realized that there was a lot of beauty in that precious time. What grew inside me, nestled down in the salty and dark depths of my body, was a garden of delights. I think back to the time I spent in France with much fondness as it nurtured my spirit when I needed it most. The landscapes felt sacred to me, full of history and quiet beauty. Much of it was less manicured than other parts of France that I had visited previously and I recognized some of the wild, raw beauty that I felt blossoming in myself in the sprays of late summer wildflowers and rows of cypresses against parched hillsides. I think that time and place fostered in me a new recognition of the feminine spirit and the special nature of womanhood. Things stood out in my observations of the area that probably would not have otherwise - perhaps due to the heightening of certain senses, and thus the paintings I began in France and finished back at my studio in Colorado are imbued with that unique perception. I consider that time in France as a time that shaped and held me as I unknowingly formed my most wonderful creation yet.”

How to purchase:

The works are available exclusively through the gallery and available to the public for purchase upon the exhibition opening at 6pm pacific time on July 11, 2025. The gallery ships worldwide. To inquire about a specific work in advance, or to make a purchase please contact either of these humans directly:

Callie Jones (gallery director) | (214) 695-7047 | callie@colgallery.com

Jordan Pieper (exhibition curator) | (303)-704-2336 | jordan@jordanpieper.com