Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;The artist William Pope.L, who teaches at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, has been producing some of the most original visual and performing art in America for many years. But it was not until the Acting Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts overturned the recommendations of the NEA's own advisory panel to support this publication and the exhibition it accompanies that Pope.L became the subject of feature articles in the nation's major newspapers. Pope.L became a cause celebre as a result of the scandal, but he deserved to be known long before that. His work is humane, accessible, profound, and humorous; it is also deeply challenging and self-aware. It is neither an accident nor a joke that his business card reads "Friendliest Black Artist in America."Many of Pope.L's pieces take place on the street. He has eaten and regurgitated copies of The Wall Street Journal, tied himself to a bank door and handed out money (a sort of reverse panhandler), crawled up the Bowery wearing a business suit, and walked down 125th Street in Harlem wearing a 12-foot white cardboard phallus. Although he frequently deals with racial issues, his work confounds preconceptions of what "black art" should be.This book, which accompanies a nationally touring exhibition of Pope.L's work, explores his impact on American art and culture. It contains sections on practices, body, performance, dialogue, consumption, and a selection of the artist's writings and a chronology. The essays are by Mark H. C. Bessire, Suzanne Preston Blier, C. Carr, Geoffrey Hendricks, Stuart Horodner, Lowery Stokes Sims, Kristine Stiles, and Martha Wilson.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
"The photos of Pope.L's funny and daring work speak for themselves...lustrous..." Philadelphia Weekly Liz Spikol The MIT Press
Review
"Pope.L... blends poetry with Dada, politics with scatology, continually confronting viewers with difficult questions and hard-to-categorize art. Pollack The MIT Press
Review
"...illuminating...the art of a provocateur can be as serious as it is outrageous." Eduard M. Gomez Black Issues Book Review The MIT Press
Review
"Pope. L's bold engagement with the mind and the body...is expertly and energetically documented and evaluated...." Donna Seaman Booklist The MIT Press
Review
"Provocative, irreverent, and insightful." Steven Nelson African Arts The MIT Press
Review
"Provocative, irreverent, and insightful."
— Steven Nelson, African Arts"Pope.L ... blends poetry with Dada, politics with scatology, continually confronting viewers with difficult questions and hard-to-categorize art.
— Pollack"...illuminating...the art of a provocateur can be as serious as it is outrageous."
— Eduard M. Gomez, Black Issues Book Review"Pope. L's bold engagement with the mind and the body...is expertly and energetically documented and evaluated...."
— Donna Seaman, Booklist"The photos of Pope.L's funny and daring work speak for themselves...lustrous..."
— Philadelphia Weekly, Liz Spikol
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"...illuminating...the art of a provocateur can be as serious as it is outrageous." Eduard M. Gomez Black Issues Book Reviewandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Pope. L's bold engagement with the mind and the body...is expertly and energetically documented and evaluated...." Donna Seaman Booklistandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Pope.L... blends poetry with Dada, politics with scatology, continually confronting viewers with difficult questions and hard-to-categorize art. Pollack andlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Provocative, irreverent, and insightful." Steven Nelson African Artsandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"The photos of Pope.L's funny and daring work speak for themselves...lustrous..." Philadelphia Weekly Liz Spikolandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Synopsis
The artist William Pope.L, who teaches at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, has been producing some of the most original visual and performing art in America for many years. But it was not until the Acting Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts overturned the recommendations of the NEA's own advisory panel to support this publication and the exhibition it accompanies that Pope.L became the subject of feature articles in the nation's major newspapers. Pope.L became a cause celebre as a result of the scandal, but he deserved to be known long before that. His work is humane, accessible, profound, and humorous; it is also deeply challenging and self-aware. It is neither an accident nor a joke that his business card reads "Friendliest Black Artist in America."Many of Pope.L's pieces take place on the street. He has eaten and regurgitated copies of The Wall Street Journal, tied himself to a bank door and handed out money (a sort of reverse panhandler), crawled up the Bowery wearing a business suit, and walked down 125th Street in Harlem wearing a 12-foot white cardboard phallus. Although he frequently deals with racial issues, his work confounds preconceptions of what "black art" should be.This book, which accompanies a nationally touring exhibition of Pope.L's work, explores his impact on American art and culture. It contains sections on practices, body, performance, dialogue, consumption, and a selection of the artist's writings and a chronology. The essays are by Mark H. C. Bessire, Suzanne Preston Blier, C. Carr, Geoffrey Hendricks, Stuart Horodner, Lowery Stokes Sims, Kristine Stiles, and Martha Wilson.
Synopsis
An introduction to the work of the controversial visual and performance artist William Pope.L.
Synopsis
This book, which accompanies a nationally touring exhibition of Pope.L's work, explores his impact on American art and culture. It contains sections on practices, body, performance, dialogue, consumption, and a selection of the artist's writings and a chronology. The essays are by Mark H. C. Bessire, Suzanne Preston Blier, C. Carr, Geoffrey Hendricks, Stuart Horodner, Lowery Stokes Sims, Kristine Stiles, and Martha Wilson.
Synopsis
andlt;Pandgt;An introduction to the work of the controversial visual and performance artist William Pope.L.andlt;/Pandgt;
Synopsis
This is at once a book by and about William Pope.L and the catalog for his 2013 show at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.and#160; It serves as a forum for reflections on his work by several scholars, including a long, substantial essay by Lauren Belant (who was recently interviewed by Artforum in a major feature).
Sculptor and performance artist William Pope.L calls himself "the friendliest black artist in America," though many would disagree.and#160; He is not particularly friendly, and blacks and caucasians alike sometimes find his work offensive. This is because he does not suffer platitudes about race or racism.and#160; Racism simply exists, as does economic disparity and Pope.L makes us confront the hypocrisy that informs American society's "color blindness," corporate values, and our squeamishness about the human body and its functions.and#160; He often performs in the street--eating and vomiting copies of the Wall Street Journal, tying himself to a bank and handing out money, crawling up the Bowery wearing a business suit, or walking through Harlem warng a giant white cardboard phallus.
Synopsis
Iconoclast and artist Pope.L uses the body, sex, and race as his materials the way other artists might use paint, clay, or bronze.and#160; His work problematizes social categories by exploring how difference is marked economically, socially, and politically. Working in a range of media from ketchup to baloney to correction fluid, with a special emphasis on performativity and writing, Pope.L pokes fun at and interrogates American societyand#8217;s pretenses, the bankruptcy of contemporary mores, and the resulting repercussions for a civil society. Other favorite Pope.L targets are squeamishness about the human body and the very possibility of making meaning through art and its display.
Published to accompany his wonderfully inscrutable exhibitionand#160;Forlesenand#160;at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago,and#160;Pope.L: Showing Up to Withholdand#160;is simultaneously an artistand#8217;s book and a monograph. In addition to reproductions of a number of his most recent artworks, it includes images of significant works from the past decade, and presents a forum for reflection and analysis on art making today with contributions by renowned critics and scholars, including Lawrie Balfour, Nick Bastis, Lauren Berlant, and K. Silem Mohammad.
and#160;
About the Author
The Renaissance Societyat the University of Chicago is a contemporary art museum free and open to the public located on the University campus.
Table of Contents
Foreword /Mark H.C. Bessire, Stuart Horodner, Sara Kellner --Essays: --Friendliest black artist in America /Mark H.C. Bessire --From an old overcoat to workboots and a jockstrap (a 22 year journey of friendship with Pope.L) /Geoffrey Hendricks --Thunderbird immolation: burning racism /Kristine Stiles --Limited warranty /Martha Wilson --In the discomfort zone /C. Carr --Working and William /Stuart Horodner --Dialogue: --Interview with William Pope.L /Lowery Stokes Sims --Artist's writings --Bocio, eats notes 200 vol.2, hole theory (parts four, January 2002) /William Pope.L --Practices: --Objects --Street performances --Installation/performances