"Working in a range of mediums, use of repetitive form, and color create three dimensional structures that invite those who experience his work to reflect upon abstracted references to a necktie used for status, beauty, fashion and the destruction of human life. 

Cole's work celebrates history, survival, and a personal memory of a time and place". 

Halima Taha Ph.D.,  "Collecting Works on Paper and Canvas by African American Artist 2008"

“Most of the critical writing about Cole has stressed his ethnic and cultural context, but it is important that African-American artists (including Sam Gilliam and Clarence Morgan, for example) receive purely formal analysis of their work, too.

On this level, Cole’s work is impressive, but he needs to further examine issues of support, site, and positioning. When he does, volume will no doubt come along for the ride.”

Matthew Kangas, Sculpture Magazine [2004]

It started with a photo… a photo shot by a friend, Bill Stephens, of a young boy holding a piece of tar paper and a piece of steel. Materials integral in the erection of a well-known symbol of power and respect were materials involuntarily used as a funeral pyre for so many, another kind of symbol of power and respect. The images of the twisted mass also felt uncannily familiar. 

Additionally, while in my studio watching the news, a segment aired focused on the remains of victims of September 11. According to the program, there are approximately 1006 unidentified remains which the government has either refused or does not have the resources to identify.

In an indicting and thought provoking statement, a victim’s wife mentions that identification of the remains of all of those unidentified would only cost pennies and yet they still will not assist. She goes on to state that “it’s okay; I’ll see him again when Gabriel blows his horn.” This statement and its moving memories prompted me to also experiment with another material, copper.

The new curvilinear shapes and forms, materials such as tar paper, aluminum and copper continue the dialogue started with wood and neckties of man’s struggle with hate and senseless destruction and his spirituality.

Kevin Cole, Notes about the Bronze Metal series 

"For Cole, billboards of political and product endorsement, road signs, traffic signals, and school area designations are “visual codes” revealing a multitude of instructive or cognitive associations.

These emblematic motifs are adroitly juxtaposed in his art with various articles of clothing, ie., shoes, ties, uniforms, suits, boots and bows that by their type or style will now become “portraits of association”. In these works by Kevin Cole, articles of clothing may invariably be portrayed as symbols of authority (influence), power and decision making, as emblems of socio-economic status, and as statements of individuality and self-expression.

These perception have been gleaned from the world of Kevin Cole, art-educator, whose daily experiences and environment are dominated by the cacophony of sights, sounds, colors and activities of public school: Homeroom bells, rap music, lockers clanging, Reeboks squeaking, laughter, horse-play,-please take your seat!, bulletin boards, homecoming decorations, schoolbooks and bags. Pep rallies-We won! Paint and clay, blue jeans, and white socks, homework, yellow buses-teacher meetings-please don’t throw the clay! Science fair and are contests-1st prize! And now for tomorrow."

Tarrance Corbin, Professor of Art University of Cincinnati [1989]

The Series of works were inspired by the Jena Six was the name given to a group of six black teenagers charged with the beating of Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States, on December 4, 2006. Barker was injured, but was released from the emergency room the same day. He has since brought suit against members of the Jena Six, their parents, the school district, and others allegedly involved.

A number of events took place in and around Jena in the months preceding the Barker assault, which have been linked to an alleged escalation of racial tensions.

These events included the hanging of nooses from a tree in the high school courtyard, two violent confrontations between white and black youths, and the destruction by fire of the main building of Jena High School. The incidents were often linked in the extensive news coverage regarding the Jena Six.

Kevin Cole, Notes about the New Nooses series 

In 1996 I had the opportunity to paint the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural. At that time the late Maynard Jackson was selected to have his portrait painted.

As part of the process each individual selected for the mural was interviewed prior to being painted. One of the questions Mr. Jackson was asked was, "How would you like your legacy to be remembered?” He replied that he had always tried to live by a special verse in a poem. The verse was "When I die, would it matter if I was born?" Over the years, this statement has echoed in a special spot in my heart and mind. In 2003, hearing about his passing, I reflected on the statement and could not release it for a long time.

Artists are sometimes inspired in uncanny ways. We sometimes unconsciously reach into crevices and ravines that consciously we’d go nowhere near. Pondering that same question Mr. Jackson pondered, I attempt to create work that hopefully matters.

Kevin Cole, Notes about the Warrior Series