January 25, 2004
eRacism
Went to check out William Pope.L's show eRacism at artist's space last night. Usually art that is explicitly about race does not really do it for me (probably due to my lack of "otherness" aka my lack of honky pride). This was different; subtle and well done seemingly more about America and the act of reworking the meaning of ones outsider status than purely about being on the outside.
I really liked his old school performance stuff which was on display there which includes portions of his Great White Way where-in he crawls around portions of Manhattan wearing a suit and tie. While I had read about this before and seen still images they do not convey the degree to which this performance is about time, tedium and the agony of the slow. It's really painful to watch the pace as he crawls, flowers in hand, his glasses falling partially off, and hanging from his sweaty face. While the piece is about race and the "other" in many obvious ways, for me, the portion that most interestingly touched on the layers of otherness was the when two other black man, seeing him crawling (and presumably the camera man) attempt to get him to stand up. While I could not hear what they were saying (though there is sound included) as a silent act to me they did not want him exhibiting his otherness, brandishing it with such bravado, bringing attention to their own (from both inside themselves and outside). I will probably write a more formal review of the show after I go for a visit during a more mellow time. The best part was probably getting one of his business cards that has his name and "friendliest black artist in America".
