Ruth van Haren Noman likes to be on the sidelines of the art world, popping up occasionally with an exhibition of her work. She feels good that way. Always she manages to surprise.

During her painting studies, she came forward with video work, installations and drawings, took her own life and permanent search as her subject, which was something that was not at all as common at that time (1997) as it is now. The work was pure and honest and also managed to seduce Jan Hoet, who bought her drawings for the SMAK. She was also accepted for a postgraduate at HISK. After a residency in Duisburg at the Lehmbruck Museum, she found the pressure to make art too much and temporarily put her art practice on hold. Some distance from the art scene eventually brought the freedom and peace she needed and she started painting again, but now in the lee and without the pressure from outside.

Ruth van Haren Noman’s paintings are difficult to catalogue, they are unusual and they demand undivided attention. They even evoked some rejection at her second exhibition in Antwerp at the time (2008), but even more interest and attention. They simply take time. And, of course, also the viewer’s willingness to enter Ruth’s world without prejudice. So go exploring like an explorer. Be surprised, be captivated by the associations her images evoke in you, because isn’t it true that this artist makes you look at yourself through her work?

Once she started painting flowers, but in such a disarming way that they transcended the naive image, her intuitive approach uncovered a new reality, something that transcended the superficial by miles.

The paintings Ruth van Haren Noman now presents continue to intrigue. They look like riddles without being threatening, they have a vast arsenal of shapes and colours that pull you out of your everyday existence into the wonderful world of a parallel universe. That universe is not really unknown to you, you recognise things and shapes but they are in a different context and become part of a meta-reality to which you can travel with your mind, enter it and feel good. This artist’s paintings allow you to look differently and experience differently. That in itself is a special achievement.

Ruth also gives her paintings titles and she considers them important too. Whether those titles bring clarification to the viewer is not certain. For the artist, they signify the completion of the work, they become part of it like the naming at the birth of a child. What the viewer does learn from them is that the language in that other universe is sometimes similar, but therefore does not cover the identical meaning. Again, let your imagination run wild.

Daan Rau, 2021