Pope.L: Advice to the Young | Louisiana Channel

“Be ignorant of what you think you know.”
American artist Pope.L shares stories of his own struggles as a young artist and his advice for the younger generation.
As a student, Pope.L, was struggling with finishing a painting. A problem that he didn’t usually face. “Being young, not having much experience, I didn’t realise that this does come up. You can’t solve every problem,” he says. At the time, his professor's advice was yelled across the classroom to him: “Write on it.” Which he did.
“If I had one thing to say to artists, it would be to be patient. And to be ignorant of what you think you know,” Pope.L. says and continues: “If you don’t get the answer that you were expecting, maybe that’s a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is overrated.”
Pope.L (also known as William Pope.L, born in 1955 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American visual artist best known for his work in performance art and interventionist public art. He has also produced art in painting, photography and theatre. He was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and is a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of the Creative Capital Visual Arts Award. Pope.L was also included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Recent exhibitions, performances, and projects include Between A Figure and A Letter at Schinkel Pavillion, Berlin (2022); Misconceptions at Portikus, Frankfurt (2021); Four Panels at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York (2021); Instigation, Aspiration, Perspiration, a trio of complementary exhibitions of his work in New York organised by the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and Public Art Fund (2019), Flint Water Project at What Pipeline, Detroit (2017) and Whispering Campaign at documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017).
Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen interviewed Pope.L in his studio in Chicago in February 2023.
Camera: Sean Hanley
Edited and produced by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023.
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.
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[@Mingting_mania]

As a young artist who just turned age 22, I really value this advice. It would have been fun to have met you before you left.... rip

[@zereotrope]

I used to wear my cap askew like that when I was a young artist because I thought it showed character and I was emulating the old scruffy guys I saw growing up in the south. They seemed earthy, real and wise to me. A sort of "dummy wise". A natural wisdom that comes from hardship and carelessness. I think we often know less as we get older anyway and being young and carefree and doing it, is where it's at. Releasing that energy and urgency, which doesn't have to be wild and untamed. The brilliance of a young mind can be honed to a point just as readily.

[@unchartedthickets]

“Enter the ignorance”. Perfectly said. I was listening to a pod cast about history and the historian said something similar in regards to his work. Something like this: history is not cut and dry. There’s many tangents. Answers can be elusive. There’s no real ‘A-Ha moment’ like the Newton’s Apple parable. Researching history is more like a long slow hunch pieced together over time. Lots of players and interconnected, seemingly unrelated parts, play into it. At some point the story reveals itself through a steady reach into the fog.

[@ppegah]

interesting. happen to remember which podcast and episode?

[@unchartedthickets]

@@ppegah I believe it was one of the podcasts from The Ancients some time in September, October or November. I apologize for being vague. I looked back and see I listened to podcasts about Hannibal, Ramses, Dead Sea Scrolls, Alexander the Great, Gaza, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Vandals. I want to say it might be the Vandals episode but I’m shooting in the dark at this point.

[@katecox5240]

Thank you for this advice. Definitely resonates for me.

[@mikekolleth6168]

“Knowing what you’re doing is overrated” is advice that only an artist can give to other artists… Not sure I want to hear the same sentiment from a pediatric surgeon or the guy who fixed the brakes on my car last week.

[@jeansbeasn]

Thats not true. You can be proficient at your job and still feel lost. The way I interpret his words is it’s more of a consolation for those who don’t feel like they have a direction they want to go in. Or maybe you cant figure out where you want to settle down. So hes saying that knowing what you want to do with your life doesn’t matter as much as living it does.

[@vikramadoddamani]

@@jeansbeasnyou’re BANG ON 👍🏽

[@thirdrockjul2224]

Interesting ideas. 👍

[@MV-es3sk]

So what did he write on it?

[@anitchlikadze3451]

💖

[@noahskye]

RIP POPE

[@abbydiventra405]

Rest in peace ❤️

[@CITYBORNDESERTBRED]

that’s a BAR #micdrop

[@spiritlevelstudios]

2:14

[@levijosephcreates]

Advice to the young of how to be a successful artist. Work hard and get good, kiss ass and be lucky. You can also skip the work hard and get good bit depending on who's ass you kiss and the amount of luck. Also read How to Win Friends and Influence People if you want to be a fake fook. Edit: If you go for the work hard and get good don't worry too much about the audience, they will come and others will hate what you do, don't try to please everyone, just be yourself. Also don't listen to other artists advice, most of it is bollocks anyway and most disregard the luck part. Understanding marketing helps no end.

[@mamumonkan]

Love this guy to bits ... just don't agree with the way you are dissemination the gospel ... it's very much "White Missionary/Savior Style" ! ( Seems to me , when you guys at Louisiana Marketing don't know what to do, ..... you post Advice for the Young !?!? )