"Naked Came The Strangers" - Print (16x20)
Dimensions: 16x20 inches
"Naked Came the Strangers" is a print of an original painting inspired by an infamous thermal bath in Baden-Baden, Germany. Several hot springs supply thermal waters to the spas of Germany’s Black Forest. Given my affinity for hot springs, I insisted on visiting this area during my 2021 honeymoon and they did not disappoint. The famous spa town of Baden-Baden (German for “bath bath”, the repetition only to distinguish itself from another German locale named simply Baden for… “bath”..) is home to many palatial Renaissance-style baths built up during the 1800’s, making the Freidrichsbad Spa depicted in this painting one of the most opulent bathhouses in Europe. Spending time in these baths was as lavish as I had hoped and part of the novelty was indeed the requirement to exist in a state of complete nudity while in the spa. It felt like stepping back through time, and the familiar sense of being reborn after emerging from a spring was not missing. I made up the mass of greenery entering through the open dome at the top of the composition – in the real building the dome is enclosed. Here the intrusive botanics reach downwards toward the glow of the spa waters below, the bath seemingly summoning the entity from above. It is a light corollary to the effect that higher temperatures are having on the globe’s plant life, wherein the heat and accompanying humidity produced by the greenhouse effect do indeed stimulate a greater accumulation of plant mass. They too are intoxicated by the introduced heat.
*The title was borrowed from a New York Times article written about a visit to the famous spa by Stuart Emmrich
Noelle Phares is a Denver-based artist who blends landscape with geometric structure to explore the intersection of nature and human impact. With a background in biochemistry and environmental science, her work reflects a deep concern for the environment, creating fractured, architectural landscapes that highlight the tension between organic and synthetic. Noelle has exhibited internationally and collaborated with brands like Merrell, Smartwool, and 4FRNT Skis.
