Artists: Dorian McKaie, Alexandra Noel and Naoki Sutter-Shudo
Exhibition title: Instrument of the Homecoming
Venue: The Sunroom, Richmond, Virginia, US
Date: November 18, 2016 – January 13, 2017
Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artists and The Sunroom
SC: Do you wanna know the problem with places like this? With religion in general? It’s never known how to convey the anatomy of horror. Religion seeks discipline through fear, yet it doesn’t understand the true nature of creation… No one has ever believed in it enough to make it real! The same cannot be said of my work…
JT: [Scoffs] Your books aren’t real.
SC: But they’ve sold over a billion copies. I’ve been translated into 18 languages. More people believe in my work than in even the bible!
Instrument of the Homecoming brings together work from Dorian McKaie, Alexandra Noel & Naoki Sutter-Shudo. The three artists romanticize historical lineages while simultaneously pushing us into new, destabilizing realities.
Sutter-Shudo’s piece Mug functions as a departure point for the show. It draws from John Carpenter’s 1995 psychological horror film In The Mouth of Madness, in which a popular Lovecraftian author, Sutter Cane, is able to manifest reality through his apocalyptic fiction. Alongside Noel’s paintings of surreal equine hybrids and McKaie’s demanding and perverse sculptural amalgams, an uncanny world emerges. These murky realities unhinge social paradigms as we know them to exist.
[Thunder]
LS: Well what’s to be scared about? It’s not like it’s real or anything.
Dorian McKaie, Untitled, 2016
Flannel, cord, PVC, duct tape, 120 x 61 x 26 inches
Alexandra Noel, Hybrid and Carriage (Mule), 2016
Oil and enamel on panel, 8 x 3 inches
Alexandra Noel, Hybrid and Carriage (Hinny), 2016
Oil and enamel on panel, 8 x 3 inches
Alexandra Noel, Hybrid and Carriage (Zorse), 2016
Oil and enamel on panel, 8 x 3 inches
Alexandra Noel, Hybrid and Carriage (Zony), 2016
Oil and enamel on panel, 8 x 3 inches
Alexandra Noel, Hybrid and Carriage (Zeedonk), 2016
Oil and enamel on panel, 8 x 3 inches
Naoki Sutter Shudo, The time to buy an antique is when you see it, 2016, Acrylic, enamel and confetti on MDF, Dimensions variable
Naoki Sutter Shudo, The time to buy an antique is when you see it, 2016, Acrylic, enamel and confetti on MDF, Dimensions variable
Naoki Sutter Shudo, The time to buy an antique is when you see it, 2016, Acrylic, enamel and confetti on MDF, Dimensions variable
Naoki Sutter Shudo, Mug, 2016
Gouache on paper, vinyl window film, Dimensions variable
Naoki Sutter Shudo, Mug, 2016
Gouache on paper, vinyl window film, Dimensions variable
Naoki Sutter Shudo, O Glorious land of nuts and corn, 2016, Lenticular print, wire, thread, pearls, wood, enamel, mixed media, 14 ¾ x 10 ¾ x 3 ½ inches
Naoki Sutter Shudo, O Glorious land of nuts and corn, 2016, Lenticular print, wire, thread, pearls, wood, enamel, mixed media, 14 ¾ x 10 ¾ x 3 ½ inches
Naoki Sutter Shudo, O Glorious land of nuts and corn, 2016, Lenticular print, wire, thread, pearls, wood, enamel, mixed media, 14 ¾ x 10 ¾ x 3 ½ inches
Dorian McKaie, Sick horse, 2016
Bottle, acrylic, gasoline, enamel, 26 ¾ x 6.5 x 5 inches
Dorian McKaie, Sick horse, 2016
Bottle, acrylic, gasoline, enamel, 26 ¾ x 6.5 x 5 inches
Dorian McKaie, Sick horse, 2016
Bottle, acrylic, gasoline, enamel, 26 ¾ x 6.5 x 5 inches