Willie Cole

Contemporary artist Willie Cole, (b.1955), transforms ordinary domenstic objects such as bicycle parts, irons and lawn jockeys into powerful works of art, embedded with references to the African-American experience and inspired by West African religion, mythology, and culture. AFTERBURN, a traveling exhibition of Cole's work organized by the University of Wyoming Art Museum, features 15 examples of his sculptures, scorched canvases and iris prints. Cole's sculpture, Kanaga Field Iron, acquired by the Museum in 1998, will be included in the concurrent exhibition, Frontiers.

The steam iron is the single most important icon in Cole's visual vocabulary. Its symbolic reach extends from the domestic role of women of color to the Yoruba god of iron and war, Ogun. The imprint of the iron point up references a face or African mask; point down, it takes on the form of a shield. By scorching canvases with the iron, Cole creates patterns reminiscent of Adinkra cloth found in Ghana.

Born in New Jersey, Willie Cole attended Boston University School of Fine Arts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His work is in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.