YAMAHA GUITARS

For Cole’s 2022 solo show No Strings, the artist recovered guitars, saxophones, and pianos from Yamaha’s recycling program. Through his usual alchemy, he created anthropomorphic creatures and abstracted figures from their parts, converting hammers into tail feathers, spliced acoustic bodies into dogs and anonymous musicians. The pieces are expressive and tied to the endurance of America’s past, particularly drawing a connection between the guitar’s shape and the yokes forced on people who were enslaved.