text and image roberto voorbij
Although Cady Noland withdrew from the, in her eyes speculative and opportunistic, art world in the late nineties, the exhibited works at De Hallen Haarlem still appear very fresh and up to date. The work deals among others with the overall idealization of violence in American society and the crucial role which the media play in this. These phenomena are being placed in a broader cultural context, as symptoms of a deep-seated malady of violence and submission. She locates it in the hero worshiping of (psychopathic) criminals, the urge for sensation and the hardening of the political debate. For every single one examples can be found in today’s media. It explains her choice for screen-printed images from that same media on a surface of aluminum. The masculine and cool metal as the representation of the real underlying motives and forces…
The exhibition ‘The American Dream’ at De Hallen Haarlem runs until March 13, 2011.
Cady Noland – Spaghetti cowboy template I (1990).
Cady Noland – Manson girls ‘sit-in’ cut out (1993/94).
Cady Noland – William Randolph Hearst (1995).
Cady Noland – Not yet titled (bald Manson girls sit-in demonstration) (1993/94).
Cady Noland – Chicken awning frame (1990).
Cady Noland – Chicken awning frame. Detail (1990).
Cady Noland – Chicken awning frame. Detail (1990).
The Bleeding Tomato 
Cady Nolands work is as you said still very strong and vibrant, but fails more and more as museum incorporate (monopolize) it. And that is maybe part of her later works, whose focus and that are singular events. They show the symptoms (and even more disgustingly now) also their origin as one, short-circuiting any responsibilities anywhere. Like fucked-up divine violence
seeing the show in Haarlem I was of the opinion the work was treated with respect to Cady Nolands ideas. One element that appeared a bit underexposed maybe, was the given of male domination vs. the cliche of the “weaker sex”. Present in numerous of the works and another important accusation against the media. Maybe that is an element that does have changed the last couple of years? More women in politics, more girl power etc.