T he 1970s is often looked back upon as a decade of rising economic inequality and inflation, proliferation of political instability, and a deterioration of American ideals. The Vietnam War, oppression against non-violent protest, rising police brutality, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy were some of the many tragedies and scandals that have defined the 1960s and 1970s. Cady Noland’s practice has often been interpreted under the lens of the perceived desperation and decline of this t.mes as she continued to examine the myth and truths of the American Dream, surfacing the anxiety, violence, and dissonance that lurked below images produced in the United States. While she weaves through multiple forms and media to explore this theme, many of her silkscreen on aluminum works have been central in investigating the impact of figures or images that have caused a stir within the shared consciousness of the United States. The metal, perhaps symbolizing some sense of permanence or continuity, lets off a reflective sheen in places, drawing the viewer back in the image and invoking their role in the construction or destruction of collects ive identity and experience.
Through Managing Rabble from 1994, Noland presents an image of Martha Mitchell as a one-week co-host of the CBS program “Pat Collins Show” in 1974, having a conversation with Collins herself. Mitchell was a pivotal whistleblower of the Watergate scandal, as she released information about the burglary at the DNC complex after finding information from documents provided to her husband, Attorney General under Richard Nixon, and head of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, John Mitchell. After she leaked the information, she was found physically accosted and held captive. Despite her critical role in revealing details of the Watergate scandal, media outlets and her husband often deemed her “crazy” and “unreliable,” underscoring the American propensity for quick judgment, misogyny, and intolerance. In front of Managing Rabble, the viewer is compelled to contrast the admiration and doubt for the American ideal that pervades the nation’s psyche.
