member: Pope.L, 19782001

(Hardback)

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The first-in depth publication to critically investigate the impact of Pope.L's early performances on his career Pope.L (b. 1955) is a consummate thinker and provocateur whose practice across multiple mediums - including painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, theatre and video - utilizes abjection, humour, endurance, language and absurdity to confront and undermine rigid systems of belief. Spanning works made primarily from 1978 to 2001, member: Pope.L, 1978-2001 features a combination of videos, photographs, sculptural elements, ephemera and live actions. This volume, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, presents a detailed study of thirteen early works that helped define Pope.L's career. It features essays by curators, artists, filmmakers and art historians, plus an intervieww and artistic interventions by the artist. These components are supplemented by thirteen detailed plate entries that highlight key details of each work. The entries engage performances that are rooted in experimental theatre such as Egg Eating Contest (1990) and Aunt Jenny Chronicles (1991) as well as street interventions such as Thunderbird Immolation a.k.a. Meditation Square Piece (1978), ATM Piece (1996), and The Great White Way: 22 miles, 9 years, 1 street (2001-2009), among others. Together these works highlight the role of that performance has played within a seditious, emphatically interdisciplinary career that has established Pope.L as an influential force in the history of contemporary art.

Reviews

[Pope L.'s] aim is to surface the realities of American life--uncomfortable economic, social, and political truths; and the yawning gaps between living while black and white. Published in conjunction with his survey at the Museum of Modern Art, "member: Pope.L, 1978-2001" examines 13 early works, street interventions and experimental theater that largely defined his career.--Victoria L Valentine "Culture Type"
The current political situation has made the wit and social commentary in all of [Pope L.'s] performances achingly topical--sad for the country, then as now, but a good time to make art.--James Hannaham "4 Columns"

Author Bio

Stuart Comer is Chief Curator in the Department of Media and Performance at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.