William Pope.L: The Friendliest Black Artist in America
What is this man doing attached to an ATM by a rope and wearing a skirt made out of dollar bills? Here he is again, this time in a suit and tie sitting cross-legged on an American flag on a city sidewalk eating a page of theWall Street Journal. A provocateur, street performer, creator of objects and installations, writer, teacher, and social critic, Pope.L, the "friendliest black artist in America," has been the recipient of numerous awards as well as the target of controversy and censorship over the course of his distinctive, dynamic, and invaluable art practice. Pope.L's bold engagement with the mind and the body, profound seriousness and canny absurdism, aesthetics and politics, and the many shades of racism that fracture and impair our lives is expertly and energetically documented and evaluated in this handsome volume. Essays by curators, critics, and fellow artists; an interview; a chronology; and Pope.L's own writings support the numerous colorplates of his art, works that cajole viewers into addressing the most painful and persistently inexplicable aspects of our race-obsessed society.Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved