Don Porcella: "Everything Must Go"
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 3, 6-9pm
Noysky Projects
7/8, 6727 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Noysky Projects is pleased to present Everything Must Go, a site-specific exhibition by Don Porcella that examines the intersection of consumer culture and the commodification of memories. Located just 100 feet from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood Boulevard, Everything Must Go illuminates America’s obsession with nostalgia, the lure of the tourist industry, and the manipulation of desire.
The souvenir shop is one of the few places where the average person can purchase a token symbolizing the American Dream, affording the tourist a memento of a place and time that has intense meaning. Relics from a souvenir shop are typically a cheap imitation of luxury that are made from impermanent materials, much like a film set. But unlike the polished veneer of a stage, Porcella embraces unrefined characteristics in his relics, using accessible materials like pipe cleaner, puffy paint, and cardboard, affirming the true value of the subjects represented.
Porcella’s awkward and comical representations conjure a formative, more innocent time. Vivid recreations from his memories are commodified, including shoes that were stolen, pure air from his childhood, and his unrealized sports career, critiquing consumer culture and the idea that people will sell anything, including their own humanity, to obtain material prosperity.
As historic cathedrals to capitalism like Sears and JC Penney fall in favor of virtual ones like Amazon and eBay, the brick-and-mortar shop is rapidly becoming a relic of the past. Drawing inspiration from the ebbs and flows of consumerism, Porcella will restock objets d’art throughout the duration of the exhibition, implying both the scarcity of product and the ephemerality of memory.
While consumer culture remains central to Porcella’s work, the absurdity of the art business also appears throughout the exhibition. Art trope avatars are apparent in Patron, Critic, Dealer, and Artist, where the sale of cheap merchandise is conflated with the sale of serious art, revealing the internal dialogue artist is faced as both the facilitator and inhibitor of their own work.
Despite its wide embrace of American culture, Porcella’s work remains equally critical of it, mirroring the country’s socio-economic trends and its obsession with the authenticity of the past. Everything Must Go is a rare opportunity for people from disparate walks of life to discuss their dreams and aspirations while evoking an inclusive space to discuss new ones.
Don Porcella’s work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and alternative spaces across the globe. Everything Must Go is his first solo show at Noysky Projects. His work has been reviewed by The New York Times, NY ARTS, Fiber Arts Magazine, Chelsea Now, San Francisco Magazine and The Village Voice. He has a BA in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego; a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts; and an MFA from Hunter College, New York. Porcella’s work is included in public and private collections across the United States and Europe. He has received grants from the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, the Brooklyn Arts Council, an EAF Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park, the 2012 West Collects Prize, an artist residency at the Museum of Arts and Design, and a 2014 Swatch Art Residency in Shanghai.
