Event Details

Noah Scalin | West Gallery + Vault: “Playthings”
Opening Reception: May 15th from 5:30pm – 8:30pm

Bio: Noah Scalin is the creator of the Webby Award winning project Skull-A-Day and the collaborative science fiction universe & performance art project League of Space Pirates. He was the Grand Prize winner of Artfields 2022 and his collaboration with Old Navy was one of the most viewed commercials of 2020. Noah’s art has been exhibited internationally, including installations in Times Square, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Mütter Museum and multiple solo exhibitions in Krause Gallery in NYC. His work has been commissioned by the Martin Agency, Capital One, and Goodwill; and has been featured in dozens of publications including Fast Company, Hi-Fructose, Juxtapoz, USA Today, The Telegraph, and the New York Times. Noah is the author of six books, a sought after public speaker on creativity and has inaugurated the artist-in-residence role at both Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business and Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business. He is also the founder of Another Limited Rebellion an art & innovation consulting firm which he co-runs with his sister.

Statement: Playthings is a kaleidoscopic fusion of Saturday morning cartoons, plastic toys, and cereal boxes – an explosion of overlapping imagery that mirrors the overwhelming commercial culture of American childhood. Beneath the vibrant, playful surface lies a deeply personal exploration of mental health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scalin grappled with depression and anxiety, which manifested as obsessive rumination. Seeking solace in nostalgia, he channeled this emotional terrain into his work, transforming familiar childhood imagery into a medium for self-reflection and healing.
Blending traditional painting with an experimental collage technique – inspired by his daughter’s early artmaking – Noah incorporates children’s stickers into many of the works, creating characters who serve as his avatars within this world.
Noah invites you into a space where joy and unease intertwine, showing how the detritus of childhood can be both comforting and confrontational