Volery Gallery, Dubai, is proud to present Tin Star Tall Tales from 9 February to 1 March 2023. A dual exhibition featuring works by Canyon Castator and Jon Young. The show challenges our understanding of the American identity through wall works and sculptures. Using different mediums and techniques the artists explore the ways in which the American West Mythology has been constructed and perpetuated, and its relation to issues such as nostalgia, Indigenous erasure, and the glorification of violence. Both artists also draw inspiration from their own experiences and perspectives, with Young referencing his Indigenous heritage and nomadic upbringing, and Castator drawing on his childhood’s experiences.
Jon Young is a contemporary artist known for his wall works that use various techniques to create engraved three-dimensional pieces. For Tin Star Tall Tales, he examines the enduring mythology of the American West through a collection of four works created using bright iridescent fabric, wood and batting that he refers to as 'waymarks'. The works use symbols commonly found on road signs to examine the link between nostalgia for an imagined American past and Indigenous erasure. Using his Indigenous heritage, nomadic upbringing, and time spent in California's Mojave Desert as inspiration, Young's 'waymarks' act as a rhetorical map to return "to a home that no longer exists". They serve as signposts meant to convey direction and misdirection, destination and meandering, challenging the viewer to question their origins and where they are headed. Young is contemplating how patterns and repetition function in sign-making. Instead of symbols that indicate a specific meaning that guides one to a particular destination, Young has created snakes that spiral and mirror each other, referencing maze-like forms that make an unclear path forward and suggest misdirection and confusion.
On the other hand, Canyon Castator creates dynamic, figurative paintings that explore the interplay of colour and form. For the exhibition, Castator presents a sharp critique of the western expansion of America and Hollywood's portrayal of the 'Cowboy Western' genre. The three paintings exhibited by Castator offer a cartoonish representation of characters collaged to represent a critical examination of the glorification of the cowboy's lawless, bloody, and aggressive masculinity persona in the Wild West. The paintings intend to question the idealised portrayal of the cowboy myth by mocking the idolised hardship and frequently violent depiction of the American West narrative that has been used to form our understanding of the American identity. Although he does not endorse the popular Los Angeles trend of Cowboy Cosplay, Castator did spend his childhood summers working on a cattle ranch in Butler, Missouri, and has seen over 100 episodes of "Gunsmoke", thus making him a scholar of the Western genre.
Opening Reception:
February 9, 2023 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Exhibition Dates:
February 9 - March 1, 2023 | 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM
