Inspired by the poetics of sirens and their songs, Lake Disappointment explores the impulses of desire and temptation, questioning our means to reclaim our autonomy within them.

"These works are largely about being both siren and sailor, creating space between the two. I sing these melodies — everyone does. We illustrate and persuade and entangle like a type of hypnosis, a natural moral corruption.” - Foley

A subtle haunting emanates from Foley’s three mosaic- like drawings, of some idyllic beauty crystallized into prophecy, into a sealed fate. The power of desire expresses itself in vibrant colors and symbols resembling Greek mythologies and ancient archetypes, which hypnotize the viewer, drawing them in, somewhat like sirens themselves.

Autonomy and temptation shape the arc of these works. The five small graphite drawings explore the liminal space between these personas. We are immersed into static stairways, hallways, pools. The images seem to both flow and stand still, to lead us somewhere and to keep us out. They remind us of our own self control, and leave us wondering — why sail past paradise?

*Moonshine*, 2022
Marker and pen on paper
55” x 40”

Carson Foley (b. 1994, Midland, Texas) grew up in Maine, he lives and works in New York City. He studied art at Cooper Union in New York City where he received the Michael S. Vivo award for Excellence in Drawing. Apart from his interests in drawing and sculpture, he has been tattooing since 2016 and owns a shop in Brooklyn, NY. For Foley, the work transcends fleeting moments and helps serve as a marker of self-love and preservation. Since the invasion in Ukraine he has revisited his family’s embroidery work that was largely created in Western Ukraine before the Soviet Union, as well as Soviet-era communist mosaic work which emphasizes community building, for inspiration. Lake Disappointment is Foley's second solo at Entrance.