Mis-armed and Ready

Artist Statement:

The plastic soldiers I had as a young child were objects of a play war that held no other purpose or life beyond their duty as toys. They are frozen in the act of fighting. For the real soldiers whom these toys portray, their reality is such that even the most battle-hardened warrior is still a person, with a life and home to which they hope to return. I tried to give these childhood toys a sense of humanity. Perhaps they acknowledge the battle that solders fight at home, the fight for a normal life.

Noa Batle is a promising young artist born and raised in San Francisco. He has featured his artwork at the MOMA PS1 in New York City, Catherine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, SFMOMA Artists Gallery and The Workshop Residence. He has won several awards for his artwork including a Gold medal in the National Scholastic Arts and Writing 2014 competition and the Merit Award for the YoungArts 2014 competition. His work has been featured in Cosmopolitan UK, the Front cover of BOOM Magazine (University of California Press), and Vocativ.com. Noa is currently working on his Bachelor of Arts degree at the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture.

Please join us for our opening reception on Friday, August 7 from 6-9pm at Rare Device Divisadero (600 Divisadero Street). RSVP here.