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Christopher Wool — ‘Each new set of lines is smothered in hazy veils of wiped grey, with further layers sprayed on top, to the point where distinguishing between the various imbrications becomes impossible. The antiheroic notion of mark-unmaking correlates with a conviction lying at the heart of Wool's oeuvre - that linear progress toward artistic mastery is a modernist relic.’ (K. Brinson, ‘Trouble is My Business,’
Christopher Wool

‘Each new set of lines is smothered in hazy veils of wiped grey, with further layers sprayed on top, to the point where distinguishing between the various imbrications becomes impossible. The antiheroic notion of mark-unmaking correlates with a conviction lying at the heart of Wool's oeuvre - that linear progress toward artistic mastery is a modernist relic.’ (K. Brinson, ‘Trouble is My Business,’

This large-scale enamel on linen work by Christopher Wool presents a dense, layered accumulation of marks that have been systematically obscured through wiping and spraying, creating hazy veils of grey that render the painting's underlying gestures virtually indecipherable. Wool's deliberate process of mark-unmaking challenges traditional notions of artistic mastery and progress, embracing instead an antiheroic approach in which creation and erasure become inseparable acts. The resulting surface exists in a state of perpetual ambiguity, where the boundaries between individual layers dissolve into an intricate, smothered whole.

Medium
enamel on linen

🔨 Auction Lot

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

October 14, 2015

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About this work

Christopher Wool, ‘Each new set of lines is smothered in hazy veils of wiped grey, with further layers sprayed on top, to the point where distinguishing between the various imbrications becomes impossible. The antiheroic notion of mark-unmaking correlates with a conviction lying at the heart of Wool's oeuvre - that linear progress toward artistic mastery is a modernist relic.’ (K. Brinson, ‘Trouble is My Business,’

This large-scale enamel on linen work by Christopher Wool presents a dense, layered accumulation of marks that have been systematically obscured through wiping and spraying, creating hazy veils of grey that render the painting's underlying gestures virtually indecipherable. Wool's deliberate process of mark-unmaking challenges traditional notions of artistic mastery and progress, embracing instead an antiheroic approach in which creation and erasure become inseparable acts. The resulting surface exists in a state of perpetual ambiguity, where the boundaries between individual layers dissolve into an intricate, smothered whole.

Medium
enamel on linen
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Postmodern Art, Abstract Art, Mark Making, Grey Palette, Deconstructive, Grey Tones, Enamel On Linen, Deconstructive Process, Male Artist, Gestural Painting, Process Based Art, Contemporary Artist, Industrial Medium, American Artist, Abstract Expressionism, Contemporary Era, Gestural Abstraction, Process Art, Late 20th Century, Monochromatic, Neo-Expressionism

More works by Christopher Wool

Collected by

Hamilton Selway Gallery, Alex Capecelatro, Lisa Rembrandt