Fast Track Home (Primary Title)
Willie Cole, American, born 1955 (Artist)
My interest or my habit is to work with objects that have had intimate contact with human beings. The things you touch hold onto a part of you. My interest then is to extract and reveal the spirit in any object I use. —Willie Cole
Drawing upon a rich tradition of artists who make art from everyday objects, Cole created Fast Track Home by pressing superheated electric irons onto canvas to make a complex pattern of light and dark scorch marks. Three generations of women in Cole’s family were housekeepers; the use of irons refers to that history. But the scorch marks’ broader cultural references include scarification, African masks, crucifixes, and the gestural brushwork in abstract expressionist paintings. The white dashes along the marks’ edges reminded the artist of highway lines receding into the distance and of migrating geese flying in a vee formation, hence the work’s title.
[1] Accessioned May 20, 1999. See VMFA Curatorial file.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
