Willie Cole, contemporary African-American sculptor and conceptual artist, is best known for assembling and transforming ordinary domestic and everyday objects such as irons, ironing boards, water bottles and high-heeled shoes into imaginative and powerful works of art and installations.
Through the repetitive use of single objects in multiples, Cole’s assembled sculptures acquire a transcending, almost spiritual vibration, and a renewed metaphorical meaning that often become a critique of our consumer culture.
Cole’s work is generally discussed in the context of postmodern eclecticism, combining references and appropriation ranging from African and African-American imagery, to Dada’s readymades and Surrealism’s transformed objects, and icons of American pop culture.
