"Like walking into a room and hitting a wall"—Daniel Gerwin reassesses Pope.L's *Claim* in *Hyperallergic*

Ruffneck Constructivists installation view

*Ruffneck Constructivists*, 2014, installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo: Aaron Igler / Greenhouse Media.

Following up on his Title Magazine analysis of Pope.L’s wall based work Claim, 2014, Daniel Gerwin revists the piece:

Pope.L’s framed note refers to baloney as flesh, and it’s impossible for me to look at all this ragged meat without thinking of the gun deaths so movingly addressed by Joseph, as well as of car bombs, IEDs, and missiles blowing people to bits in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and elsewhere. The Benjamin Moore colors make a startling contrast because they reflect the American aspiration to anodyne, comfortable shelter. In a world of such extreme bloodshed and injustice, “Claim” haunts any effort at domesticity or faith in rationality.