BIRMINGHAM, AL.- Artist Willie Cole transforms high-heeled shoes, wooden matches, steam irons and a range of other manufactured goods into striking works of art. The first survey of Cole’s work from the last 15 years, Anxious Objects: Willie Cole’s Favorite Brands, on view at the Birmingham Museum of Art March 30 to May 27, powerfully yet playfully conveys Cole’s convictions about history, race, politics and spirituality.

Speaking of the term coined by art critic Harold Rosenberg in a review of artist Jasper Johns’s work, Cole describes an “anxious object” as “an object that is anxious to express itself. It can’t hide its own history, its own intent in the world. Its past, present and future are all on its surface, and in the air around it, like an aura.”

African-American, Cole was born, raised, and has lived most of his adult life in New Jersey. The state’s manufacturing history, ethnic diversity, and economic disparities influence his work. There are also numerous references to African-American history and experience throughout the exhibition. In the late 1980s, Cole began creating assemblages of found objects that refer to traditional African, Asian and other non-Western art and symbols.

“Willie Cole is an important American artist with his own unique and highly engaging style,” says Ron Platt, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art “With his ironing board prints reflecting slave ships and his sculptural homage to Rosa Parks assembled from high-heels, we couldn’t resist bringing the show to the Birmingham Museum of Art.”

Cole studied art, theater, music and fashion design while attending Newark’s Arts High School ― the model school for New York City’s High School of Music & Art. He attended Boston University School of Fine Arts and completed his BFA in 1976 from Manhattan’s School of Fine Arts. Schooled primarily in media arts and graphic design, he continued his art education, taking anatomy and drawing classes at the Art Students League in New York. His eclectic employment history has ranged from artist to actor or musician to demolition and construction worker. Exhibited nationally and internationally, Cole’s work is found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Birmingham Museum of Art.

This exhibition was organized by the Montclair Art Museum with support from the State of New Jersey, Department of Treasury; Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Altria Group, Inc.; Ruth and William True; Merrill Lynch; the Cowles Charitable Trust; and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Anxious Objects and related programs have been made possible by generous support from the Wachovia Foundation. Black & White City Paper is the generous print sponsor of this exhibition. General exhibition support is provided by the City of Birmingham and the Jefferson County Community Arts Fund through the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, an initiative of the Jefferson County Commission and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.