William Popel (review)

REVIEW My Niagara, 1 9 9 8 , p e r f or m an c e , c ou r t e sy of The Pr oj ect , New Yor k. WILLIA M PO PE L The Project, NewYor* Take t h e C- train on 96t h St r eet at Centrat Park West and end up at 125th St r eet around St . Nicholas Avenue. Walk a couple of blocks t o The Project , a recently opened ex hi bit ion space bet ween Am st erdam and Morningside. The Project is in t h e middle of t h e block surrounded by run down and ab and oned buildings looking not unlike a m ovie set . There's a Fundam ent alist Church, a store- front walk- in club house, young children playing - al l back- lit by t h e Sunday af t er noon su n . The December weat her is an unseasonably balmy 65 degrees and al l doors are open t o t h e st reet . A st eady stream of locals, art ist s and curiosit y seekers wander in and out . The main room of The Project space looks more like a bunker t h an an ar t galler y; al t er nat ely chic and m inim al, yet st ill i n t eg r al t o t h e landscape: a n ei g h borhood whose m arriage of urban pat hos and f ailur e, pride and disr epair is like a dream land of d iscont inuit y; one t h at appears det oured down an unf am iliar highway. William Pope L.'s ex hibit ion, i n st alled in t h e m ain gallery and t h e lower level of The Project space ap pears at hom e, a ref lect ion of wh at t ak es on t h e charact er of wh at had been ingest ed and ex pelled, which makes t h e necessary link bet ween i n side and out side. Paint ed direct ly on t h e walls are drawings ex ecuted in peanut but t er. The drawings have t h e look of rit ualist ic marks in t h e way t hey im ages f ur t her suggests excrem en t al em anat ions. By suggest ing a variet y of ex cret ions, Pope. Lem p loys t his alm ost cabalist ic st rat egy t o paint int o ex ist ence t h e dist ance b et ween t h e product and it s use val u e. Saf eguarding a doorway is Pope, t's "m ayonnaise j ar " t ot em s rem iniscent of reliquary idols st acked head t o head . On anot her wal l , sm all r ect an gular tiles of i n st an t breakf ast i n scribed wit h Pebble Flint st one f aces are lined up horizont ally, f orm ing a t went y- f oot fossilized Pop- Tart f rieze. The richness of t h e im ager y is com plim ent ed by t h e im p over ishm ent of t h e m edium . Cont inuing on t h e f ood fetish m ode, are whit e bread products t h at are chem ically t reat ed t o give t hem t h e burnished ap p ear ance of age - and com pounded int o a f rost ing t h at t ur ns i n t o a doughy im pasto - Like clay or f eces. Descending int o a labyrint h of room s, is a sm all ret rospect ive of Pope, t's phot ographic d ocum ent ations of his perf orm ances spanning t he last t went y year s. They include How Muc h is t hat Ni gger in the Wi n dow , My Peni s is F i ne - How are Y ou Pd ,n d The F...