William Pope.L
Exhibition Catalog
Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2007
Art After White People: Time, Trees, & Celluloid.... was the first major West Coast museum exhibition by William Pope.L, the self-dubbed “friendliest black artist in America,” who, throughout his thirty-year career, has challenged social inequity with dark humor and biting critique. For the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Pope.L created an installation in three parts—The Grove, APHOV (A Personal History of Videography), and The Semen Pictures—that confronted and examined ritual, human will, and political ego. Pope.L’s interest in ritual layering as an artistic process was evident; all of his ''interventions'' featured objects or characters transformed by layers and veils made from such materials as paint and blood, or a simple latex mask. “Art After White People” brought Pope.L back to his roots in experimental theater, with installations resembling stage sets.
Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2007
Art After White People: Time, Trees, & Celluloid.... was the first major West Coast museum exhibition by William Pope.L, the self-dubbed “friendliest black artist in America,” who, throughout his thirty-year career, has challenged social inequity with dark humor and biting critique. For the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Pope.L created an installation in three parts—The Grove, APHOV (A Personal History of Videography), and The Semen Pictures—that confronted and examined ritual, human will, and political ego. Pope.L’s interest in ritual layering as an artistic process was evident; all of his ''interventions'' featured objects or characters transformed by layers and veils made from such materials as paint and blood, or a simple latex mask. “Art After White People” brought Pope.L back to his roots in experimental theater, with installations resembling stage sets.