Joe Light (1934–2005), Hobo # Birdman, 1988
Place mats, glass, enamel, spray paint, on wood, 48 x 96 in.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Joe Light's senses of theology, history, and autobiography respond with two human presences: the "hobo" and the "birdman." They occupy the nearer banks of rivers—our flawed reality—in search of ways across to the unpopulated, pure spaces the river sheaths. The possessionless hobo wanders the river's edge in hopes of a better opportunity, while the birdman seeks to take flight. These two figures encapsulate Light's life as drifter and revelator, and reflect on the deep paradoxes of secular and sacred African American responses to psychological and economic domination within a racialized society. Meanwhile, two plastic placemats—one featuring a reproduction of the United States Capitol, the other, a nostalgic scene of ice-skating on a frozen pond—situated between the two personifications of his quest. The placemats are pressed behind glass. How to partake of America's feast? the piece asks.
