A solo selling exhibition featuring Thierry Noir’s early 1980s works and new 2025 paintings is now open in Hong Kong. Titled Thierry Noir: Rush Hour, this showcase is displaying numerous works never before shown outside Europe by French artist Thierry Noir—who was the first to paint murals on the Berlin Wall.

Noir’s iconic visual motifs of elongated profiles, flattened faces, and simplified forms originated across large spans of the Berlin Wall as symbols of resistance and endurance. Since his first mural in 1984, he has had a career spanning nearly five decades.

Thierry Noir at the Berlin Wall in 1986 (Photo: Thierry Noir Studio)

Marking the artist’s most significant project in Asia to date, this exhibition is presented from July 9 to July 31, in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District by PhillipsX, a selling exhibition platform operated by the global Private Sales team at Phillips.

The title Rush Hour reflects Noir’s sense of urgency and transformation. “After 30, it’s almost more difficult to change something… You have to hurry up, take your life in your hands, and then try to start something. That’s what I have done,” said Noir.

The phrase also evokes the intensity he felt while painting the Berlin Wall, an act that broke taboos and launched his artistic career. This exhibition draws a bold arc from the raw urgency of his early 1980s works to the vibrant pieces of his contemporary practice. Rarely seen small-scale early works portraying the iconic heads and other familiar compositions are presented here for the first time, in dialogue with large-scale new paintings and site-specific murals created exclusively for the showcase.

Thierry Noir, early 1980s drawing

Encompassing decades of artistic evolution, the juxtaposition of past and present illustrates how Noir’s recurring motifs have evolved over time, while remaining  rooted in his enduring visual vocabulary, establishing a singular artistic vision. “Many years later, the same energy is still there, just transformed,” said Noir.

Thierry Noir, A certain day-to-day approach to the situation gives me complete control over my entire development

Noir was born in 1958 and first emerged as a politically engaged artist working in exile-like conditions in West Berlin, where he lived in unofficial accommodation. Today, Noir’s vividly colorful imagery is widely renowned worldwide, and he remains a tireless creator, continually expanding his visual universe.

In addition to the Hong Kong presentation, Thierry Noir: Rush Hour is also being shown in Tokyo, making it a cross-city showcase.

Picture credits: Thierry Noir Studio; PhillipsX Thierry Noir: Rush Hour Selling Exhibition

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