COMPLEX CONVERSATIONS: WILLIE COLE SCULPTURES AND WALL WORKS, by Patterson Sims

Western Michigan University, 2012, First edition, 63 pp., 8" X 8", Softcover

Fine

The realities of inner-city African-American life and his immediate family have laid the groundwork for the sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints of Willie Cole. Cole, who grew up in post-industrial Newark, sees himself as an “urban archaeologist.” He draws inspiration from traditional African art to create contemporary works in many media.

Cole transforms mass-produced objects into precious icons or symbolic representations to examine race, history, and belief systems. His artwork has engaged in a continuous conversation with national identity and world culture through shifting themes, from the personal to the universal and his African-American Baptist heritage to international, pan-spiritual perspectives.