Willie Cole: Lyrical Reconstructions at Country Music Hall of Fame

Willie Cole: Lyrical Reconstructions, features new and recent works by the critically acclaimed American sculptor and printmaker, opening Thursday, March 28 and on view through May 16, 2024.

Cole’s creative process blends familiar consumer objects with references to the appropriation of African and African American images, resulting in sophisticated hybrids. His most recent bodies of work repurpose discarded water bottles or musical instruments, such as his 2022 commission, “Ornithology,” for the Kansas City International Airport, a work comprised of twelve larger-than-life birds made entirely from alto saxophones with an accompanying soundscape in honor of jazz legend Charlie “Yardbird” Parker.

This exhibit is guest-curated by Paul Barrett.

Read more about the exhibition here!

Willie Cole's Five Beauties featured in National Academy of Design Sites of Impermanence

The National Academy of Design exhibition Sites of Impermanence is an exhibition of art and architectural works by the recently elected 2023 National Academicians Alice Adams, Sanford Biggers, Willie Cole, Torkwase Dyson, Richard Gluckman, Carlos Jiménez, Mel Kendrick, and Sarah Oppenheimer.

Although disparate in their approaches to material and subject matter, the artists and architects featured in Sites of Impermanence form a vivid cross-section of responses to urgent contemporary conditions and the underlying histories that have shaped them. From site-specific projects to sculpture, drawing, architecture, textile, and interactive installation, the selection of works in the exhibition reflects on a bounty of ideas (critical environmental challenges, the ongoing effects of slavery, the blurred lines between human and machine), to chart pathways towards transformation and liberation. Sites of Impermanence is co-curated by Sara Reisman, Chief Curator, and Natalia Viera Salgado, Associate Curator.

Sites of Impermanence is on view at the National Academy of Design in NY from February 8, 2024 - May 11, 2024.

Read more about the exhibition here!