Administrative/Development Associate
Development Director
Village of Arts and Humanities (Philadelphia)
Campaign Manager
Director of Special Events
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Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston)
Collaborative Community Site Program Manager
Studio in a School (New York)
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Harlem School of the Arts (New York)
Development Associate
National Alliance for Musical Theatre (New York)
Grant Writer/Development Specialist
New Dance Group (New York)
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York College/CUNY (New York)
Landscape Architecture, Fresh Kills NYC PlaNYC 2030 Project
City of New York/Parks & Recreation
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Museum of Arts and Design (New York)
MFA Fund Officer
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)
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Americans for the Arts (Washington, DC)
FUNDING
Cintas Fellowship Program (for creatives of Cuban Lineage)
Cintas Foundation
DEADLINE: January 14, 2008
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There is something curious about a brotha who calls himself "The Friendliest Black Artist in America." But then again, that is exactly what multi-disciplinary artist William Pope.L is all about. His new three-part installation at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, 'Art After White People: Time, Trees, & Celluloid...'—his first West Coast exhibit—is a bit of an enigma itself. "Am I following after a white model, i.e., in the trail of?" he asks. "Or is it 'after' in a sense of that which is obsolete?" These are the kinds of issues that have driven his work of pondering race and social constructs for nearly three decades. Take for instance his 'The Great White Way' performance where he spent five years crawling northbound from the Statue of Liberty up through Manhattan to the Bronx via Broadway sporting a capeless Superman costume with a skateboard strapped to his back. "In Western society," he explains, "we are given examples of the vertical: the rocket, the skyscraper…it's all about up. I want to contest and challenge that…I'm suggesting that just because a person is lying on the sidewalk doesn't mean they've given up their humanity."
So what then is 'Art After White People' all about? The three different parts—Grove, A Personal History of Videography (APHOV), and The Semen Pictures—each examine an aspect of American culture. In Grove is "an exploration of the social, psychological, and environmental consequences of human willfulness." A landscape eerily natural and artificial, a garden of palm trees covered in white paint glows in the dark room, filled with white tarps and boxes. The whiteness connotes both presence as well as void. Following Grove is APHOV, an examination at both performance and politics. The room is filled with an assortment of furniture surrounding a screen, with the image of a man in a Donald Rumsfeld Mask weeping blood—"a cinematic performance of performance, in a video about video." The exhibition ends with The Semen Pictures—collages of celebrity "portraits" interspersed with images of semen and hair, creating "veils" of both image and ultimately medium. Pope.L's commentary is patently conceptual, and at times obtuse, but ultimately it is that same curiosity that makes it so engaging.
'Art After White People: Time, Trees, & Celluloid…' is at the Santa Monica Museum of Art through December 23.
In the wake of society's calamities and what is and is not going on in current affairs, it appears that the whole world's gone mad, or-at the least-turned upside down. And the people seek solace from their raw reality, 'World Upside Down' at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Ontario provides recluse through a satirical observance of social models through visual art. Fifteen artists use a cultural and historical cocktail garnished with satire, to explore their own personal Jesus through playful pieces or introspection including self-potraits, performances and an off-site billboard project.
Exhibition curator Richard William Hill mentions imagining Soviet Supermen and killer rabbits, but what is really Alice-in-Wonderland are headless aristocrats donned in pseudo African fabric and present-day Queen Nanny icons. Exhibit artists to highlight include mixed-media artist and photographer Renee Cox and fine artist Yinka Shonibare. Cox's self-portraits include her self-portrayals through alter egos such Raje, a cultural ambassador clad in a liberation onesie and Queen Mammy of the Maroons, Jamaica's sole national female hero, an 18th century Maroon leader. With overt satire and seriousness, Cox's portraits portray herself-symbolic of what she is, was, strives to be and is expected to be, as a gently assimilated black woman. Turner Prize-nominee recognized for his fabrications of royalty, Yinka Shonibare uses "African" fabric, purchased in a London market, to create models of the British royal guard engaging in "common" behavior. Shonibare's use of fabric and postures seek to demonstrate that culture is a mere artificial construct-as is his work headless royalty on a unicycle. Albeit the unsavory social and political climate, 'World Upside Down' is a testament that real can really does recognize real.
World Upside Down, curated by Richard William Hill, is organized by the Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Center and in collaboration with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Musée d'art de Joliette. 'World Upside Down' runs through February 17, 2008.
