Willie Cole USA, b. 1955

Overview

Willie Cole is a contemporary American sculptor, printer, and conceptual artist. His work combines references to everyday consumer objects and appropriation from African and African American imagery.

 

Cole is well known for his Dada and Surrealist readymades, which assemble and transform ordinary domestic and used objects such as irons, ironing boards, high-heeled shoes, hair dryers, bicycle parts, wooden matches, lawn jockeys, and other discarded appliances and hardware. His long-running Mother and Child series of assemblages uses high-heeled shoes to convey the thematic figures. The forms created by the well-worn shoes recall traditional African sculpture.

 

The steam iron is another long-standing motif in Cole’s work. He imprints iron scorch marks on a variety of media, showing their wide-ranging decorative potential while also referencing his African American heritage, using the marks to suggest the transport and branding of slaves; the domestic role of Black women; Ghanaian cloth design; and Yoruba gods. 

 

Through the repetitive use of single objects in multiples, Cole’s assembled sculptures acquire a transcending and renewed metaphorical meaning. In addition to their Dada and Surrealist ties, Cole’s assemblages relate to various other art historical traditions, such as Nouveau Realism (as in the work of Arman), postmodern eclecticism (Funk Art), and Pop Art.

  

Cole grew up in Newark, NJ. He attended the Boston University School of Fine Arts, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1976, and continued his studies at the Art Students League of New York from 1976 to 1979. 

 

Recent exhibitions of Cole's work include The B-Sides (1989-2022), Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, USA, To Reclaim, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, USA; New Concepts in Printmaking 2: Willie Cole, MoMA, New York, NY, USA; Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA; Chicago, Surrealism: The Conjured Life, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA; and Afro: Black Identity in America and Brazil, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA. Cole’s work is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; MoMA, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Wake Forest University Student Union Collection of Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC; and many others.

Works
  • Willie Cole, Red Bed (Wasteland series) , 2023
    Willie Cole
    Red Bed (Wasteland series) , 2023
    Recycled, crushed plastic water bottles , Epoxy resin on mounted MDF
    34 x 31 x 5 in.
    86.4 x 78.7 x 12.7 cm
  • Willie Cole, Yellow Bed (Wasteland series) , 2023
    Willie Cole
    Yellow Bed (Wasteland series) , 2023
    Recycled, crushed plastic water bottles , Epoxy resin on mounted MDF
    34 x 31 x 6 in.
    86.4 x 78.7 x 15.2 cm
  • Willie Cole, Domestic Shield XX, 2020
    Willie Cole
    Domestic Shield XX, 2020
    Iron scorches on canvas with resin and wax mounted on wood
    54 x 16 x 3 in.
    137.2 x 40.6 x 7.6 cm
  • Willie Cole, Mother and Child, 2020
    Willie Cole
    Mother and Child, 2020
    Bronze
    40 x 25 x 15 in
    101.6 x 63.5 x 38.1 cm
    Indoor / Outdoor
  • Willie Cole, Untitled, 2020
    Willie Cole
    Untitled, 2020
    High heel shoes and wire
    17 x 18 x 18 in
    43.2 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
  • Willie Cole, Spike, 2019
    Willie Cole
    Spike, 2019
    High heel shoes and wire
    18 x 12 x 12 in
    45.7 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm
  • Willie Cole, Woman in Heels, 2019
    Willie Cole
    Woman in Heels, 2019
    Bronze
    70 x 25 x 40 in / 177.8 x 63.5 x 76.2 cm
    Base: 18 x 36 x 36 in / 45.72 x 91.44 x 91.44 cm
  • Willie Cole, Cat Caller, 2017
    Willie Cole
    Cat Caller, 2017
    Shoes, wire, and screws
    23 x 20 x 12 in.
    58.4 x 50.8 x 30.5 cm
  • Willie Cole, Hot Body #1, 2013
    Willie Cole
    Hot Body #1, 2013
    Scorch on paper
    24 x 18 in
    61 x 45.7 cm
  • Willie Cole, Red Spirit Light, 2013
    Willie Cole
    Red Spirit Light, 2013
    Plastic bottles, galvanized steel, and cellophane
    75 1/2 x 72 in
    191.8 x 182.9 cm
  • Willie Cole, The Diviners 1, 2012
    Willie Cole
    The Diviners 1, 2012
    Digital print
    31 x 26 3/4 in.
    78.7 x 67.9 cm
  • Willie Cole, Minus 20, 2006
    Willie Cole
    Minus 20, 2006
    Scorched plywood
    43 1/8 x 27 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.
    109.5 x 69.2 x 7 cm
  • Willie Cole, With My Heart In My Hands, 2005-06
    Willie Cole
    With My Heart In My Hands, 2005-06
    Shoes, PVC pipe, metal, and screws
    45 x 47 x 24 1/2 in.
    114.3 x 119.4 x 62.2 cm
  • Willie Cole, Female Hothead Dancer in a Scorched Skirt, 2005
    Willie Cole
    Female Hothead Dancer in a Scorched Skirt, 2005
    Iron scorches and varnish on plywood and found wood
    62 1/2 x 62 1/4 in.
    158.8 x 158.1 cm
  • Willie Cole, Man Spirit Mask, 1999
    Willie Cole
    Man Spirit Mask, 1999
    Photo etching, silkscreen, and photo etching with wood cut
    39 1/8 x 26 1/2 in each
    99.4 x 67.3 cm each
  • Willie Cole, One in a million, 1995
    Willie Cole
    One in a million, 1995
    Women's shoe heels and latex on wood
    42 x 54 x 7 in.
    106.7 x 137.2 x 17.8 cm
  • Willie Cole, Untitled (you iron with that professional touch) ), 1989
    Willie Cole
    Untitled (you iron with that professional touch) ), 1989
    Metal iron, colored and xeroxed paper in wood and glass frame
    16 x 12 3/4 x 3 3/8 in
    40.6 x 32.4 x 8.5 cm
  • Willie Cole, Untitled (You steam out wrinkles as you iron!), 1989
    Willie Cole
    Untitled (You steam out wrinkles as you iron!), 1989
    Metal iron, colored and xeroxed paper in wood and glass frame
    16 x 12 3/4 x 3 1/2 in
    40.6 x 32.4 x 8.9 cm
Exhibitions
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