David Henry Nobody Jr’s Resemblages
Mudslide Into Nobody, 2020, archival inkjet print on Canson Platine heavy rag paper, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of UNIT LONDON.
UNIT LONDON is pleased to present David Henry Nobody Jr’s latest series, on view within Platform, their online gallery initiative. The series is available for viewing on the Platform site through Jan 31.
David Henry Nobody Jr is an alter-ego character known for FLUXUS inspired, bizarre characters utilizing masks and wearable sculptures composed of consumerist detritus. A self-titled practice, “Resemblage” (resemble and collage), humorously and disturbingly explores the dark side of American pop culture and politics, questions humanity, notions of “the self” and modern day narcissism with the rise of social platforms.
Barbie’s Bane, 2020, archival inkjet print on Canson Platine heavy rag paper, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of UNIT LONDON.
The artist’s mixed-media approach to constructing this performative armor sees Nobody Jr. combining found object, paint and the body to reveal “unwilling self-saboteur” characters, lost in limbo between the self and the external consumerist world. Hinting at the Dionysian, characters are pleasure-seeking yet grotesque, unable to recognize their unsightly and alien forms.
The quick rise of social media, radically redefining the portrayal of the self, has also enabled the rise of the online persona, the donning of a ‘digital mask’. Nobody Jr explores this fabricated self and how to use this exploration as a means for self actualization.
Gateway to My Grid, 2020, archival inkjet print on Canson Platine heavy rag paper, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of UNIT LONDON.
“My experiences watching the Trump presidency and the public’s reaction to the Virus show that the spin or recording of something can often be more important than reality. In a world becoming harder to decipher between reality and “fake news” facts and science can be denied. Resemblage can be hideous in its truthful damnation of the propaganda of its time. I’m just playfully showing what I feel and see, much like artists like Otto Dix did in other dark political times. Like a clown, I am complicit in the self deception of the now.”
10% of proceeds from all Platform exhibitions are donated to a charity of the artist's choosing. David Henry Nobody Jr has chosen to support The Campaign Against Hunger: an organization that helps thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers by giving them the food and resources they need to survive.