Synopses & Reviews
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.
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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
-When Pope.L shakes his head he makes drawings that keep him from laugh-crying to death, - writes Helen Molesworth of Skin Set Drawings, an ongoing series by multi-disciplinary artist William Pope.L (born 1955). Made with very humble materials, this extended corpus deals with the absurdities and perversities of intentional language, especially racist language and language associated with categorizing and naming color. -Black People Are Taut, - -Brown People Are the Green Ray, - -Blue People Are What We Do to Homosexuals, - -Red People Are From Mars Green People Are From New Jersey, - -Purple People Are Reason Bicarbonate, - -Red People Are the Niggers of the Canyon- are some examples of this highly-charged series by the self-proclaimed -friendliest black artist in America.- Black People Are Cropped offers a selection of drawings from 1997-2011, sketches, critical texts and the artist's own writing.
Synopsis
A highly charged series revealing the absurdities and perversities of intentional racist language
"When Pope.L shakes his head he makes drawings that keep him from laugh-crying to death," writes Helen Molesworth of
Skin Set Drawings, an ongoing series by multi-disciplinary artist William Pope.L (born 1955). Made with very humble materials, this extended corpus deals with the absurdities and perversities of intentional language, especially racist language and language associated with categorizing and naming color. "Black People Are Taut," "Brown People Are the Green Ray," "Blue People Are What We Do to Homosexuals," "Red People Are From Mars Green People Are From New Jersey," "Purple People Are Reason Bicarbonate," "Red People Are the Niggers of the Canyon" are some examples of this highly-charged series by the self-proclaimed "friendliest black artist in America."
Black People Are Cropped offers a selection of drawings from 1997-2011, sketches, critical texts and the artist's own writing.
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.