David Noel
Second-Year MFA Candidate
David Noel is an artist contemplating cultural hegemony within America as a transracial adoptee. He often uses his experience in the military as a model for interpreting phenomena—utilizing the military-civilian divide as a structure for analysis. A core part of Noel’s practice positions reenactment as a transformative act, enabled by intersubjectivity. Through this framework he subverts familiar institutions, practices, and beliefs to rival normalization and combat hegemony. Using humor and sincerity to confront violence and dystopia, Noel’s work offers alternative narratives for understanding our current moment.
In 2011 Noel joined the U.S. Army where he deployed to Afghanistan in support of ISAF. After his enlistment he returned home to West Virginia where he attended Marshall University for his BA. Recent projects include producing audiobooks for classified documents, writing a letter to the ATF about Jell-O, and leading a participatory tactical training exercise in an art space.
