Christopher Wool Untitled 2005 silkscreen ink on linen 104 x 78 in. (264.2 x 198.1 cm) Signed, numbered, and dated “Wool, 2005, P 492” on the reverse of the backing board.
Provenance Luhring Augustine, New York Richard Gray Gallery, New York Blain Southern, London Private Collection Catalogue Essay You take color out, you take gesture out – and then later you can put them in. But it’s easier to define things by what they’re not than by what they are. CHRISTOPHER WOOL (Christopher Wool in “Artists in Conversation I,” in Birth of the Cool, Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 1997, p. 34). Christopher Wool’s Untitled (P 492), 2005, with its arabesque strokes and bold lines, explores expression through an intricate and vast landscape of gesture and material. The rich surface of the present lot is achieved using the simple means of a spray gun. The plunging lines that dash across the crimson surface, combined with thick clouds of washed pigment, conceal and reveal the pure background as they move across the canvas together. The gestural forms are intermittently broken apart by bolder sprays that snake above, below, and through the nebulous masses of burgundy pigment. The current lot comes from a body of recent works, predominantly untitled and executed in a stark monochromatic palette, that encapsulate Wool’s long history of mark-making and erasure. Untitled (P 492), 2005, illustrates the clear and resonant progression Wool has made over his three-decade long career as it catapults the tradition of painting to new heights. Wool’s thoughtful and intelligent process is thoroughly seductive. Untitled (P 492), 2005, is comprised of a multitude of sanguine layers, each dangerously challenging the definitions of gesture and material, thickness and flatness, application and erasure, color and purity. The highly concentrated area in the center of the picture quickly evolves into nothingness as the bare canvas is revealed along the edges of the composition. The erratic sprayed lines perhaps comprise a phrase or drawing; however, the washes of pigment conceal any legible message. A ghostly presence is exuded from the thinly veiled sections as if Wool washed the areas of their once viscous covering. The canvas seems tainted in some areas and absolved in others. The visual impact of Wool’s profoundly ardent and introspective dance across the canvas is reminiscent of the tenants of Abstract Expressionism. While the visual impact of the theatrical gestures stylistically parallels those of his predecessors, the flesh of the surface reveals an exciting tension between visual presence and physical surface. The tousled masses of cardinal lines and pigment are both exceedingly fluid and resonantly solid. The washes of crimson, abstracted representations and bold spray painted lines charge the canvas with confidence and flair– typical only of Christopher Wool’s brash image-making. While the famed text– SEX, LUV, RUNDOGEATDOG– is absent from the present work, the daring panache of the washes of pigment and lines function as their own silent command of the surface. To this effect, an urban connotation is thinly veiled; the canvas evokes the remnants of graffiti, or more pointedly, the appearance of a graffitied shop window. Inspired by his environment, Untitled (P 492), 2005, is indexical of a hurried gesture, evident through its subsequent erasure, a desecrated surface awash in solvent film. The colorful and gestural vocabulary of Untitled (P 492), 2005, proclaims its own omnipotent stance that challenges the confrontation that Wool’s text usually implies. Even without the bold dripping text, the lines are as provocative as the stenciled letters. Wool defines a new wave by embracing the modus operandi of the grand gestures of Abstract Expressionism and situating it within contemporary urban encounters. In doing so, the artist manifests a work that helps redefine the making of a picture and skewers the contributions of the post-war generation. Wool’s technique of color application and erasure conveys a fluidity that spreads excitedly across the canvas with vigorous theatricality. While the screening process is mechanically created
Christopher Wool Untitled 2005 silkscreen ink on linen 104 x 78 in. (264.2 x 198.1 cm) Signed, numbered, and dated “Wool, 2005, P 492” on the reverse of the backing board.
Provenance Luhring Augustine, New York Richard Gray Gallery, New York Blain Southern, London Private Collection Catalogue Essay You take color out, you take gesture out – and then later you can put them in. But it’s easier to define things by what they’re not than by what they are. CHRISTOPHER WOOL (Christopher Wool in “Artists in Conversation I,” in Birth of the Cool, Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 1997, p. 34). Christopher Wool’s Untitled (P 492), 2005, with its arabesque strokes and bold lines, explores expression through an intricate and vast landscape of gesture and material. The rich surface of the present lot is achieved using the simple means of a spray gun. The plunging lines that dash across the crimson surface, combined with thick clouds of washed pigment, conceal and reveal the pure background as they move across the canvas together. The gestural forms are intermittently broken apart by bolder sprays that snake above, below, and through the nebulous masses of burgundy pigment. The current lot comes from a body of recent works, predominantly untitled and executed in a stark monochromatic palette, that encapsulate Wool’s long history of mark-making and erasure. Untitled (P 492), 2005, illustrates the clear and resonant progression Wool has made over his three-decade long career as it catapults the tradition of painting to new heights. Wool’s thoughtful and intelligent process is thoroughly seductive. Untitled (P 492), 2005, is comprised of a multitude of sanguine layers, each dangerously challenging the definitions of gesture and material, thickness and flatness, application and erasure, color and purity. The highly concentrated area in the center of the picture quickly evolves into nothingness as the bare canvas is revealed along the edges of the composition. The erratic sprayed lines perhaps comprise a phrase or drawing; however, the washes of pigment conceal any legible message. A ghostly presence is exuded from the thinly veiled sections as if Wool washed the areas of their once viscous covering. The canvas seems tainted in some areas and absolved in others. The visual impact of Wool’s profoundly ardent and introspective dance across the canvas is reminiscent of the tenants of Abstract Expressionism. While the visual impact of the theatrical gestures stylistically parallels those of his predecessors, the flesh of the surface reveals an exciting tension between visual presence and physical surface. The tousled masses of cardinal lines and pigment are both exceedingly fluid and resonantly solid. The washes of crimson, abstracted representations and bold spray painted lines charge the canvas with confidence and flair– typical only of Christopher Wool’s brash image-making. While the famed text– SEX, LUV, RUNDOGEATDOG– is absent from the present work, the daring panache of the washes of pigment and lines function as their own silent command of the surface. To this effect, an urban connotation is thinly veiled; the canvas evokes the remnants of graffiti, or more pointedly, the appearance of a graffitied shop window. Inspired by his environment, Untitled (P 492), 2005, is indexical of a hurried gesture, evident through its subsequent erasure, a desecrated surface awash in solvent film. The colorful and gestural vocabulary of Untitled (P 492), 2005, proclaims its own omnipotent stance that challenges the confrontation that Wool’s text usually implies. Even without the bold dripping text, the lines are as provocative as the stenciled letters. Wool defines a new wave by embracing the modus operandi of the grand gestures of Abstract Expressionism and situating it within contemporary urban encounters. In doing so, the artist manifests a work that helps redefine the making of a picture and skewers the contributions of the post-war generation. Wool’s technique of color application and erasure conveys a fluidity that spreads excitedly across the canvas with vigorous theatricality. While the screening process is mechanically created
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
