I Asked Noah Becker to Explain His Paintings

Noah Becker is an internationally famous painter and founded Whitehot Magazine in 2005. Becker in the studio in 2024.
 

By MARCARSON April 30, 2025

I was curious about Noah Becker's motivations and the ideas behind his paintings. So I arranged an interview...

MARCARSON: If your art could dream, what would it have nightmares about?

NOAH BECKER: They would dream about déjà vu. No nightmares.

MC: Is a brush still a brush if it only paints in lies?

NB: Are you talking about a toothbrush, a hairbrush? I assume you're talking about a paint brush? An honest brush is best.
 

The Best Art in the World: 20 Years of Whitehot Magazine

 by Noah Becker and Mike Maizels, (feat. Becker's painting on the cover)

MC: What color do you think doesn’t know it exists yet?

NB: Beige is in need of more self-awareness.

MC: Have you ever made something that felt like it remembered being someone else?

NB: This question reminds me of the poetry of EE Cummings. I like poetry especially Rimbaud. It's good if I make something and it ends up having a separate life from me.
 

Noah Becker in NYC, photo by Spencer Tunick
 

MC: If gravity stopped working in your studio, what’s the first thing you'd make?

NB: If a painting is hanging on the wall it needs gravity to hang there, so no paintings. The Guggenheim rotunda would be ideal in an anti-gravity art world.

MC: Do you think your art forgives you after you abandon it?

NB: I believe in inanimate objects having life. Not sure about feelings but still thinking on that one...
 

Noah Becker, Two Figures, 2025, 48 x 36, o/c
 

Noah Becker, Figures in Green, 2025, 48 x 36, o/c

 

Noah Becker, Figures in Glasses, 2025, 40 x 30 inches, oil on canvas
 

MC: If an idea refuses to become anything, is it still yours?

NB: If you love something, set it free.

MC: What would your canvas say about you behind your back?

NB: Paintings are symbols, signposts and guides to a magical world. They can work for you. My paintings have not betrayed me yet.

MC: Can silence be sculpted, or is that just a very slow explosion?

NB: An awareness of the inner world can be activated by closing one eye. The bridge between the outer and inner often happens in silence.

MC: Have you ever met a shape that made you nervous?

NB: Yes, rectangles are menacing. WM

Noah Becker's next exhibition of his paintings opens at Gallery Merrick in Victoria BC, May 2, 2025