Noelle Berexa’s paintings center objects like toys to embody nostalgia and capture the memories tied with objects. Her photorealistic still lifes share a central theme of toys as souvenirs from her life. Arranging stuffed animals like a child playing make-believe, Berexa creates inner narratives that combine a youthful playfulness with the serious media of traditional oil paint. She holds a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2021). Recent exhibitions include Vertical Gallery, Uptown Gallery, Elephant Room Gallery, Artehaus, Fulton Street Collective, and Frame Chicago. Her work is in private collections around the world. 

”My work explores the idea of souvenirs, objects that hold memories, and the nostalgia of toys. Employing photorealistic detail and trompe l’oeil elements, I aim to capture the individual character in the mass-produced objects of toys. Painting these modern objects of little monetary value in the traditional material of oil paint mirrors the elevation of an everyday item to priceless treasure when they hold sentimental meaning. Using toys gifted to me from childhood into adulthood, each still life arrangement holds my memories not of playing with the toy, but when my loved one gave it to me, and my time with them. 

My paintings stem from feelings of nostalgia and a deeper fear of forgetting my own past as I age and while time moves faster away from me. I want to freeze the moment in time, preserving my mementos and reflecting on a moment in our culture.  

Toys are inherently nostalgic from their association to childhood. Painting them reconnects me to that sense of childlike joy and whimsy. Their worn-out fur and split seams become evidence of our love, showing they age alongside us.”