William Pope.L

William Pope.L [born 1955] is a multidisciplinary artist known for his ironic conceptual and performance art dealing with consumerism, social class and racism (but not in a simplistic, black and white way) and also, and more importantly, his absolute and all consuming hatred of mayonnaise. Pope.L regularly draws upon his African-American heritage to tackle variations upon what he calls "social conundrums." [http://www.artistsspace.org/exhibitions/2004/william_popel/wpopel.html] .

"The void of Pope.L’s practice is neither a celebration of blackness nor an exhortation, but somehow both; it is the exploratory action of its own meaning, and no symbol—of the black community in particular—is sacred." (Andrew Berardini)

Pope.L tackles "social conundra" from a variety of humorous and critical angles. The "social conundra" that he aims to highlight in his work include issues revolving round race, homelessness, social class and oppression.

In his early days at Bates College, he directed a remarkable production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In the Sun, in which he used both African-American and white actors as members of the same family: a production that managed to challenge, befuddle, offend - and entertain - people of any background.

He is self-described as "The Friendliest Black Artist in America", which is also the title of a book on his works published in 2002 by MIT Press. Recent activity by Pope.L includes "The Black Factory", a wayfaring project initiated in 2004 and displayed at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA) as part of "The Interventionists" show. In another performance piece called "The Great White Way", Pope.L crawled his way from the Battery north through Manhattan dressed in a Superman outfit.

A text by Holland Cotter in the "New York Times" dated March 30, 2008, stated that Pope.L continues to make performance works based on racial issues despite the wane in fashion for identity politics.

Throughout Pope.L's career he has received continual support from foundations including four fellowships to Yaddo. However, in 2001, the acting chairman of the NEA, Robert Martin, rescinded support for "eRacism," despite the fact that a panel had recommended the show receive a $20,000 grant. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts forwarded the offer of a grant instead.

William Pope.L was recently featured alongside other performing artists: Sean Penn, Willem Dafoe, Brad Pitt, Steve Buscemi, and Juliette Binoche in Robert Wilson's LAB HD portraits.

Pope.L is currently lecturer in Theater and Rhetoric at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he introduced the first works of such artists as J.F. Mamjjasond.

References

Further reading

* "William Pope.L: The Friendliest Black Artist in America", Mark H. C. Bessire, The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002 (ISBN 0-262-02533-7).
* "The Whole Entire World: Interview with William Pope.L by Amy Horschak" in "Dak'Art 2006", La Biennale de Dakar: Dakar, 2006, p. 382-383.

External links

* [http://www.theblackfactory.com "The Black Factory" project official website]
* [http://www.roundpointmovies.org/roundpointmovies/getoffthetruck.html Documentary Film of the Black Factory Rehearsal 2005]
* [http://www.distributingmartin.com/ "Distributing Martin"]
* [http://lastvisibledog.org/blog/2004/03/24/william-popel/ Artful Mind article from 2004]
* [http://x-traonline.org/past_articles.php?articleID=24 The Void Show] "Exhibition Review published in" X-TRA : Contemporary Art Quarterly