By William H. Kelly III
(JACKSON, Miss)—Jackson State University art student Tyler “Fooly” Goliday debuts his first art exhibition, “The Origin of the Pessimist: A Journey through Trauma and Resilience,” at the Municipal Art Gallery (MAG) in Jackson. The exhibition explores a tale centered on identity, transformation, and the obstacles along the way as an individual takes the first steps toward evolution and revelation.
“All of this is a story of my perception and the way I see the world. With this exhibition, people can see the way that I see life every day. Even though being a pessimist has a negative connotation, I just see myself as a person who lives in my head a lot,” said Goliday, a Starkville, Mississippi native.
Goliday’s exhibition was selected to appear in the MAG after a detailed application process and pitch.
The exhibition features a series of portraits set against vibrant monochromatic backdrops of colors, such as shades of red and blue, layered with a greyscale, grisaille painting style, highlighting the subjects’ silhouettes. Goliday’s art ultimately brings beauty to the seemingly inescapable darkness that arises in doubt, anxiety, and depression when making life decisions.
Furthermore, the artist does this by exploring mediums such as acrylic paint, digital media, and photography to present a visual story while posing a question humankind has asked for centuries—what now?
Evident in works such as “Life’s a Game,” Goliday presents spectators with three enlarged chess pieces, signifying how every step counts in the game of life.
“I said before that having my first solo exhibition would be like me moving the first chess piece in this game of life because I just see life as a game. It felt like the most difficult level ever,” he stated. “We have those phases in life where it feels like the stage of a game that we just can’t get past until we just keep figuring it out. Where we have to have resilience to push forward in life.”
Goliday’s Exhibit: “Rolling Stone” pays tribute to the life of Goliday’s late grandfather, while “Ms. Rosaria” honors the beauty of Black women and symbolically “gives them their flowers.”
From Black cowboys to HBCU bands and uplifting African American figures, the exhibition lifts the Black experience and its many dualities—joy and pain, presence and absence, resistance and surrender.
The artist thanks God, his family, Jackson State University’s Department of Art, Brittany Myburgh, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history at JSU, and Alexis Noble, founder of The Mash Up Art Exhibition.
The exhibition is open and free to the public until 5pm on May 31, 2024, at the Municipal Art Gallery (MAG).
About Goliday: Tyler “Fooly” Goliday is a senior art student in the Department of Art at Jackson State University. He is pursuing a bachelor’s in studio art with an emphasis on painting and seeks to attend graduate school to continue his education and evolution as a multimedia artist. He has participated in several art shows, such as the (Re)mediation Show at the Municipal Art Gallery, The Mash Up Art Exhibition, and the Mississippi Museum of Art. Goliday’s work has also been featured on the cover of Jackson State University’s Journal of Art and Theatre. His debut solo exhibition was “The Origin of the Pessimist: A Journey through Trauma and Resilience” at the Municipal Art Gallery from May 3-31, 2024. Learn more here.
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