Cady Noland
American artist (b. 1956)
Cady Noland is an American sculptor, printmaker, and installation artist who primarily works with found objects and appropriated images. Her work, often made with objects denoting danger, industry, and American patriotism, addresses notions including the failed promise of the American Dream, the divide between fame and anonymity, and violence in American society. Many of her works have involved different kinds of physical barriers in gallery spaces, including fences, barricades, and metal poles to guide or restrict the audience's movements. She has drawn extensively on media and tabloid imagery, regularly using images of notable criminals, celebrities, and public figures involved in scandal. Art critic Peter Schjeldahl called Noland "a dark poet of the national unconscious."