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artandcakela
Oct 5, 20183 min read

Fool’s Gold at Noysky Projects

Tom Dunn. Fool’s Gold at Noysky Projects. Photo courtesy of Noysky Projects


All That Glitters: Fool’s Gold at Noysky Projects


‘Challenging myth in an era of misinformation’

Through October 14th

By Genie Davis

Myths and reality, images and dreams. The real, the unreal, the shine of illusion, and how that shimmering blinds us. These are the thematic underpinnings of a potent exhibition at Noysky Projects. Featuring the work of artists Tom Dunn, Makenzie Goodman & Adam Stacey, Ryan Harrison Gould, Camille Schefter, and Jessica Williams, the exhibition is designed to be rigorously truthful, pulling back the curtain on the false myths and directed dreams that are all too easy to follow.

Curated by Sean Noyce, the exhibition is on view through October 14th in the gallery’s space just steps from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This is a juxtaposition that the show riffs on, specifically the dichotomy of the myth of Hollywood as a glamorous location and the reality that the boulevard is, as the exhibition notes state, “a place of tawdry souvenirs and misfortune.”

The exhibition also links itself to the dark and skeptical view of Hollywood life in the classic Nathanael West novel The Day of the Locust, and the exhibition has a literary feel to it, with works that tell rigorous, insightful stories thematically.

A centerpiece of the exhibition is Makenzie Goodman and Adam Stacey’s installation “Shooting Range Sierra Blanca.” The work has both sculptural and photographic elements, and has a rich, cinematic feel. It is a Hollywood western turned upside down. A bullet shattered car window is suspended in front of a blue skyscape, creating a living, dimensional space. On the ground lie ceramic sculptures of bullet casings. Goodman is the photographic artist, Stacey the ceramicist; together they’ve crafted a haunting work that speaks of abandonment, loss, and legends of romanticized desperados brought low.

Jessica Williams’ “Over the Edge (Pink Smoke)” is a lush but mysterious painting that is both tinged with the surreal and the impressionistic. A vibrant color palette heightens the tension in the piece, in which a long legged woman seems enveloped by a ghost of a dream. Tom Dunn’s rock ‘n’ roll installation has grit and heft. The artist relates that “The piece is based on a 2011 interview with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose on That Metal Show.” In that program, the musician explained that he’d wanted a photograph of the 1986 Challenger disaster as the album cover for the band’s Appetite for Destruction. Dunn relates “This never happened because Geffen Records convinced Axl that the idea was in bad taste. This work is a limited edition re-issue of #appetitefordestruction based on Axl’s original concept.” In the end, there is only fascination, nothing is viewed as in bad taste in our rock n’ roll dreams.

Ryan Harrison Gould’s “Girl Should” is an artisically raw and evocative look at stories that arise from and in the adult film industry. His work pairs well with Camille Schefter’s sculpture of a woman’s legs sticking out of a large pot. From the pot and between her legs spill a vast puddle of red and white candy mints. Women in the kitchen? Candy for the taking? Think again. The viewer may not quite comprehend the story here, but it’s a subversive one, and it derails tales of sexualization and happy homemaker myths.

Overall, this is a thoughtful exhibition, with works that ask viewers to read between the lines – of the art presented and of the artiface we are faced with constantly, an onslaught of myth in our everyday lives.

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