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| Garden (Ozone Summer series). 1991-scorch marks on canvas-94 x 48 in. |
Last year the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City featured Pattern ID. Visually, the exhibition was incredible with a group of artists that spanned the world. For me, Willie Cole was the favorite.
Willie Cole is best known for assembling and transforming 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, into imaginative and powerful works of art and installations.
I have read that as a young man he was fascinated and collected old irons. Irons shows up repeatedly in his work.
An audio pod cast of an interview with Willie Cole and "Pattern ID" curator Ellen Rudolph discuss the relationship of pattern to society and its manifestation in art.
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| Willie Cole (American, born 1955) Sunflower, 1994 Willie Cole Willie Cole Scorched canvas and lacquer on padded wood Tampa Museum of Art. Museum |
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| Willie Cole Pressed Iron Blossom No. 3, 2005 (05-314) 5-color lithograph 35 7/8 x 47 3/4 inches Collaborating printer: Bill Lagattuta Edition 22 |
The first image, Garden (Ozone), which was in the Pattern ID show looks like shibori or batik from a distance. Not familiar with his work, it was a treat to walk closer and realize what he actually used for his mark-making!
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