A monumental 2008 installation sculpture is the centerpiece of “William Pope.L: Trinket,” an exhibition of work by the Chicago-based artist that is now on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Geffen warehouse in Little Tokyo. The “Trinket” flag is 45 by 16 feet. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Four big industrial fans positioned near the “Trinket” flagpole can generate a forceful wind that lifts the Stars and Stripes, Times art critic Christopher Knight writes. The work’s title, he says, references a flag lapel pin; such a pin touched off a 2008 campaign controversy. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Banks of klieg lights are sequentially programmed to further crank up the “Trinket” pageantry, The Times’ Christopher Knight notes. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
The “Trinket” exhibition offers other works -- including one that features people wearing Methuselah-style white wigs -- to provide context to illuminate the flag piece. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Another work, Christopher Knight writes, “arrays tabletop fields of onions, each painted like a fishing bob or semaphore and sprouting greens -- new life -- as it shrivels in decay.” (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
