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Artworks

Domestic ID II, 1991

  • Artist

    Willie Cole

  • Title

    Domestic ID II

  • Date

    1991

  • Medium

    Iron scorches on paper in two double-panel window frames

  • Dimensions

    Each: 25 3/4 × 35 3/4 × 2 in. (65.4 × 90.8 × 5.1 cm) Overall: 52 × 35 3/4 × 2 in. (132.1 × 90.8 × 5.1 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg

  • Object Number

    2012.27a-b

In Domestic ID II, Willie Cole uses various irons as stamping devices to scorch pieces of paper. Since the late 1980s, Cole has employed the steam iron as a material for sculptural transformation and, as in this work, a tool to imprint. Cole’s long-term engagement with objects and his repetition of them as motifs (as seen here) bring about new meanings—from these household objects he frequently fixed for his grandmothers, who were employed as domestic workers, to visual echoes of African motifs, masks, and shields.


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Artworks

Domestic ID II, 1991

  • Artist

    Willie Cole

  • Title

    Domestic ID II

  • Date

    1991

  • Medium

    Iron scorches on paper in two double-panel window frames

  • Dimensions

    Each: 25 3/4 × 35 3/4 × 2 in. (65.4 × 90.8 × 5.1 cm) Overall: 52 × 35 3/4 × 2 in. (132.1 × 90.8 × 5.1 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg

  • Object Number

    2012.27a-b

In Domestic ID II, Willie Cole uses various irons as stamping devices to scorch pieces of paper. Since the late 1980s, Cole has employed the steam iron as a material for sculptural transformation and, as in this work, a tool to imprint. Cole’s long-term engagement with objects and his repetition of them as motifs (as seen here) bring about new meanings—from these household objects he frequently fixed for his grandmothers, who were employed as domestic workers, to visual echoes of African motifs, masks, and shields.


Explore further