Pope.L review – savage satire from Y-fronts-wearing trickster famed for gruelling ‘crawl’ across New York
Modern Art, London The late American took on liberal presumptions and the commercialism of Black culture, even dressing in white bunny ears and underpants Seven squares are pinned to the wall, each one painted in the high style of American minimalism: pure, austere variations on a theme. At the centre of each is printed the phrase “negro idea” followed by an apparently random number (51, 37, 666). What is Pope.L…
Key points
- A London exhibition reviews the late American artist Pope.L, known for his gruelling crawl across New York.
- The show features works that critique minimalism, racial categories, and the idea that art can be politically neutral.
- Pope.L described himself as the son of painter Robert Ryman and said he was duty-bound to burn down the family mansion.
A new exhibition in a gallery just off Piccadilly in London reviews the work of Pope.L, the American artist and writer who died in 2023. The show includes paintings, text works and short films of his performances.
The centrepiece of the review is a series of seven squares painted in the style of American minimalism, each printed with the phrase 'negro idea' and a random number such as 51, 37 or 666.
Critique of minimalism and race
The article says Pope.L used art not to make himself understood but to dismantle the liberal presumption that other people and communities can easily be understood and categorised. He was less interested in being seen than in making his audience look again at themselves and the world.
A recurring theme is how words and images settle into fixed categories such as cliche and kitsch. One work, Identity What We Lose to Real For, completed a year before his death, features block wooden letters falling off their frame and a surface spattered with paint.
walk in his footsteps to the front door of the family mansion and burn it to the ground
— Pope.L
Performances and Robert Ryman
Short films in a back room document Pope.L's performances. In one, he wears a figure-hugging Superman costume with a skateboard strapped to his back and crawls on his belly from the Statue of Liberty to the Bronx, while strangers barrack him.
The article notes his complex engagement with the painter Robert Ryman, whose white paintings are on show at the Barbican in London. Pope.L described himself as 'the son' of Ryman and said he was duty-bound to walk in his footsteps to the family mansion and burn it to the ground.
