Jonas Wood Follow Chico signed with the artist's initials, titled and dated "CHICO JBRW 2008" on the reverse oil on linen 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm.) Painted in 2008.
Condition Report Request Condition Report Thank you for your request. The Condition Report will be sent shortly. Contact Us * Required Send me the Report Via Email Fax Contact Specialist Cancel Provenance Anton Kern Gallery, New York Private Collection Phillips, New York, November 8, 2015, lot 50 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner Exhibited New York, Anton Kern Gallery, Jonas Wood , November 20 - December 23, 2008 Catalogue Essay Jonas Wood’s Chico from 2008 is an homage to American professional boxer Diego Corrales, commonly known as “Chico”, in the artist’s distinctive style of contemporary portraiture. A masterful blending of modernist abstraction and realistic figuration, Chico expertly captures a split-second moment in time, just as the boxer draws his arm back in preparation for the final blow. In discussing a common misconception in his sports portraits, Wood explains: “The sports thing is funny. A lot of people think my work on the subject is based on being a super sports fan, because I'm from Boston or because I make these nostalgic pictures, but really the whole sports theme is just a vehicle for practicing portraiture.” (Jonas Wood quoted in Emily Leisz Carr, “Super Sports Fan: An Interview with Jonas Wood”, Art in America , October 9, 2013, online) For Wood, the subject matter becomes tangential to the formal qualities of portraiture, as he expertly navigates techniques of fragmentation, flattened dimension, and highly-stylized geometric abstraction. In Chico , Wood imbues the painting with an emotional depth that belies the flatness of the composition. Wood’s reduction of the background to a near-monochromatic black, apart from a few visual cues of the boxing arena, serves to heighten the intensity of the boxer’s physique, which, in contrast, is rendered with dramatic tonal variation. Rather than painting from his imagination, Wood works almost exclusively from photographs and self-made collages, creating paintings that are re-organizations of pre-existing images. As such, his paintings are twice, or sometimes three-times removed from the real-life figures they depict, resulting in an idiosyncratic blend of realism and abstraction that distorts the subject and adds new layers of meaning. In all of his portraits, Wood aims to capture distinguishing features of his subjects. Here, the boxer’s recognizable tattoos and belt that reads “Chico” serve to commemorate the iconic athlete who passed away a year prior to the work’s execution. Rendered in his instantly recognizable painterly style, Wood captures Chico in this moment of strength, re-contextualizing the traditional art form of portraiture in a distinctly contemporary realm. Read More
Jonas Wood Follow Chico signed with the artist's initials, titled and dated "CHICO JBRW 2008" on the reverse oil on linen 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm.) Painted in 2008.
Condition Report Request Condition Report Thank you for your request. The Condition Report will be sent shortly. Contact Us * Required Send me the Report Via Email Fax Contact Specialist Cancel Provenance Anton Kern Gallery, New York Private Collection Phillips, New York, November 8, 2015, lot 50 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner Exhibited New York, Anton Kern Gallery, Jonas Wood , November 20 - December 23, 2008 Catalogue Essay Jonas Wood’s Chico from 2008 is an homage to American professional boxer Diego Corrales, commonly known as “Chico”, in the artist’s distinctive style of contemporary portraiture. A masterful blending of modernist abstraction and realistic figuration, Chico expertly captures a split-second moment in time, just as the boxer draws his arm back in preparation for the final blow. In discussing a common misconception in his sports portraits, Wood explains: “The sports thing is funny. A lot of people think my work on the subject is based on being a super sports fan, because I'm from Boston or because I make these nostalgic pictures, but really the whole sports theme is just a vehicle for practicing portraiture.” (Jonas Wood quoted in Emily Leisz Carr, “Super Sports Fan: An Interview with Jonas Wood”, Art in America , October 9, 2013, online) For Wood, the subject matter becomes tangential to the formal qualities of portraiture, as he expertly navigates techniques of fragmentation, flattened dimension, and highly-stylized geometric abstraction. In Chico , Wood imbues the painting with an emotional depth that belies the flatness of the composition. Wood’s reduction of the background to a near-monochromatic black, apart from a few visual cues of the boxing arena, serves to heighten the intensity of the boxer’s physique, which, in contrast, is rendered with dramatic tonal variation. Rather than painting from his imagination, Wood works almost exclusively from photographs and self-made collages, creating paintings that are re-organizations of pre-existing images. As such, his paintings are twice, or sometimes three-times removed from the real-life figures they depict, resulting in an idiosyncratic blend of realism and abstraction that distorts the subject and adds new layers of meaning. In all of his portraits, Wood aims to capture distinguishing features of his subjects. Here, the boxer’s recognizable tattoos and belt that reads “Chico” serve to commemorate the iconic athlete who passed away a year prior to the work’s execution. Rendered in his instantly recognizable painterly style, Wood captures Chico in this moment of strength, re-contextualizing the traditional art form of portraiture in a distinctly contemporary realm. Read More
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
