Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L (Preorder)

Published to accompany the exhibition Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L, this fully illustrated catalog, edited by Rebecca DiGiovanna, Assistant Curator, and Isabella Kapur, Assistant Curator of Research, includes contributions from visual artist and curator Aria Dean; writer, poet and scholar Simone White; and a conversation between Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick and Laura Hoptman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center.

Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L brings together more than two-hundred works—many never before publicly exhibited—ranging from the early 1980s to the artist’s final years. Drawn primarily from the artist’s estate, the exhibition also encompasses drawing-based films, writings, archival materials, and an audio drawing. Together, these works argue for a practice in which drawing was neither preparatory nor peripheral, but was a central, expansive and generative aspect of Pope.L’s work.

A visionary artist, teacher, and performer, Pope.L transformed drawing into a space of humorous critique, challenging audiences to see and think differently about the systems that dominate how we interpret the world around us. Known primarily for his performance, installation, and text-based art, drawing remained a throughline in his practice: a testing ground for ideas and a site for play and contradiction. For Pope.L, drawing was a medium in which ideas about the body, language, and American identity took their most distilled and vulnerable form.

Drawing Papers 162 was published on the occasion of the exhibition Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L, on view June 26, 2026.