Salon Series: Transcriptions, Translations, and Transformations: Carl Pope and Lisa Langford in Dialogue
- Lecture
Installation view of The Bad Air Smelled of Roses, 2004–ongoing. Carl Pope Jr. (American, b. 1961). Letterpress poster; 48.3 x 35.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund and gift of David Lusenhop in honor of the artist, 2018.33.32.
About The Event
Black: a word, a color, a state, a racial identity, a cultural identity. Artist Carl Pope’s quasi-protest installation The Bad Air Smelled of Roses consists of letterpress posters stapled to the gallery wall. It takes the form of a graphic essay that describes the paradox of blackness, its way of being real, and its fantasized qualities using myriad literary, musical, political, and pop culture references. For actor-playwright Lisa Langford, race is a slippery construct into which the theater provides a unique entry. Pope’s and Langford’s work mirrors and modifies elements from the historical continuum of African American artistic production. In this CMA Salon, Pope and Langford join in a dialogue that contemplates the nature and consequence of blackness through a multisensory exploration of their individual processes of transcribing, translating, and transforming their source materials into multiple media. Moderated by Key Jo Lee, assistant director for academic affairs. Free.