Pope.L’s pleasing refusal to be interpreted

Zachary Fne | The New Yorker | 10th August 2026

Pope.L’s performances included crawling along Manhattan streets and sitting for days on a raised toilet eating the Wall Street Journal. Were such deeds deranged or a lucid advocacy for those in his family who were homeless? His drawings are equally elliptical. This writer disagrees with critics who want to group his graphics and performances as a coherent whole. “Pope.L couldn’t care less about crafting an image or a brand. His work thrives on the incoherence of his own restless curiosity.”