Phoney Baloney

Joe Enos

Phoney Baloney

For the exhibition, Phoney Baloney, Joe Enos will create a space that addresses manufactured realities and contemporary commitments to certain cultural tropes. Since Joe was a child he has studied and been mesmerized by cartoons. His present work interrogates the semiology of his lifelong fascination. Joe uses “real” objects from cartoons− such as cartoon-like representations of wood− and will reintroduce them within the space of the exhibition. The space has been modified in a way that totally submerses the viewer− or consumer− into these cartoon symbols. The exhibition space will be paneled with "cartoon" like wood panels, with plushy grotesque shapes oozing from behind. In addition, the exhibition will combine elements of sculpture and photography that explore shapes invoking gluttony. In the universe of cartoons everything is presumed fake, and nothing has much of a commitment to the assumed laws of alleged reality. The artist perceives in our consumer society a lack of commitments to unified cultural ideologies and semantic order in contemporary popular culture. Through this exhibition, Enos hopes to demonstrate an earnest commitment to his own subjective interpretations of cultural symbols from comics and cartoons. Paradoxically, it is a commitment to something inherently false, fluctuating, and flawed much like contemporary popular culture itself. Through this exhibit and this creative philosophy Enos hopes to create a truly “American” experience.

www.tjosephenos.com

www.evergoldgallery.com