Willie Cole

Willie Cole is a contemporary American sculptor, printer, and conceptual and visual artist. His work uses contexts of postmodern eclecticism, and combines references and appropriation from African and African-American imagery. He also has used Dada's readymades and Surrealism's transformed objects, as well as icons of American pop culture or African and Asian masks.

In 1978, he found work as a graphic designer for the Queens County Borough Hall as part of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act's employment of artists. Further pursuing his passion, Willie later progressed and hosted his first major gallery show, located at Franklin Furnace Gallery in New York City, in 1989. In 1990 he participated as the Artist-In-Residence, In the Studio Museum, located in Harlem, New York. Willie Cole is the recipient of many awards, including the 2006 David C. Driskell Prize, the first national award to honor and celebrate contributions to the field of African-American art and art history, established by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Cole is represented by Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York; and by Guido Maus, beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary in Birmingham, AL.

In 2023, Cole's work With a Heart of Gold, was acquired by the Pérez Art Museum Miami through the institution's Fund for Black Art program.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023