Exhibit | Eric Yahnker Plumbs the Depths of American Dumbness / CRAVE

Eric Yahnker, “Exceptional Suicide”, 2015.

Dumbness is everywhere. Donald Trump, the parody-proof candidate, is just one example of our fascination with the pervasiveness of dumb as it plays out in the theatrical world of American politics. Eric Yahnker’s solo show Noah’s Yacht at Zevitas Marcus Gallery presents viewers with all types of American dumbness, including pun-able phrases, clichés of American memorabilia and the linguistic playfulness of recent political histories. If you don’t get all the references in this show, however, you’ll feel as dumb as George Bush messing up the “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” idiom. Yahnker is all about making sure the viewer enjoys the dumbness, but unfortunately there isn’t much of a payoff even if you do get the joke.

Visitors to the gallery are greeted with a sense of horror and intrigue thanks to “Precious Patriotism” (2015), a charcoal and graphite-on-paper piece that’s visible through the gallery’s front window. In it, Gollum from Lord of the Rings is wearing a hat with the text “Make America Great Again” printed across the front. The piece sets the tone for this show, which is equal parts pure horror and American cultural critique-as-joke. Inside the gallery, the sardonic critique continues. “Angel in the Outfield” captures a pieta-like Jesus missing a fly ball. Kurt Cobain is seen as a doubled, Siamese-twin type version of himself in the colored pencil on paper drawing “Kurt & Son.” Cowboy boots with squiggly mouths and dots for eyes hug each other in “Worn Leather.” A defiant Prince wearing a purple outfit on a motorcycle gets stopped by the police in “Purple Lives Matter.”