Christopher Wool

Christopher Wool (born 1955) is an American painter and photographer whose practice centres on the relationship between language, image and surface. Working primarily in enamel on aluminium, Wool developed a body of word paintings from the late 1980s in which single words or fragmented phrases are stencilled in large block letters, forcing language to function as visual obstruction before it can be read. Associated with the generation of New York artists who emerged in the 1980s alongside Robert Gober and Cady Noland, his work engages critically with painting's conventions, mass reproduction and the aesthetics of urban signage. His Black Book (1989) and subsequent exhibitions at 303 Gallery established the word paintings as a canonical contribution to late twentieth-century American art; major retrospectives followed at the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2013) and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

  • Christopher Wool, Guggenheim GoCARD, TRBL recto, black stencil letters on white with yellow artist name bar, 2013 Christopher Wool, Guggenheim GoCARD verso, exhibition text, support credits, GoCARD Postcard Advertising imprint, 2013

    CHRISTOPHER WOOL, Guggenheim Promotional GoCARD, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2013

    CHRISTOPHER WOOL, Guggenheim Promotional GoCARD, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2013

  • CADY NOLAND, Artforum International, January 1993, front cover, halftoned male face with three white voids and American flag button CADY NOLAND, Artforum International, January 1993, back cover, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger advertisement, Zurich, with carnival photograph

    CADY NOLAND | ARTFORUM INTERNATIONAL, Vol. 31, No. 5, Artforum International Inc., January 1993

    CADY NOLAND | ARTFORUM INTERNATIONAL, Vol. 31, No. 5, Artforum International Inc., January 1993

  • Christopher Wool, HELTERSKLTER and HOUDINI, text works, White Walls #17, 1987 — stencilled black letters across double-page spread Christopher Wool, cover design for White Walls: A Magazine of Writings by Artists #17, Autumn 1987, White Walls, Inc., Chicago

    Christopher Wool / David Sedaris — White Walls: A Magazine of Writings by Artists #17

    Christopher Wool / David Sedaris — White Walls: A Magazine of Writings by Artists #17

  • Original c. late 1980s–early 1990s Christopher Wool Prankster graphic card, offset print on white card stock, showing the word 'PRANKSTER' printed in large bold black stencil-style block capitals across three lines reading 'PRA / NKS / TER', each letter fractured by thin white gaps at intersections consistent with Wool's text-based stencil language; letters fill the full card surface edge to edge against white ground. Reverse of c. late 1980s–early 1990s Christopher Wool Prankster graphic card showing plain cream-white card stock, blank, with light age toning, soft surface marks, minor creasing, and faint discoloration consistent with period printed ephemera and archive storage.

    Christopher Wool — Prankster Card, c. late 1980s–early 1990s

    Christopher Wool — Prankster Card, c. late 1980s–early 1990s

  • Exhibition postcard from TRAUMA, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2001. Recto: installation photograph of Christopher Wool / Felix Gonzalez-Torres Untitled (1991) — a large stack of white offset-printed sheets on a wooden floor, top sheet bearing dense black compressed text reading 'THE SHOW IS OVER THE AUDIENCE GET UP TO LEAVE THEIR SEATS TIME TO COLLECT THEIR COATS AND GO HOME AND GO HOME AND GO HOME AND NO MORE. Reverse of TRAUMA 2001 Dundee Contemporary Arts exhibition postcard. White stock with 'National Touring Exhibitions / TRAUMA / Organised by the Hayward Gallery for the Arts Council of England'; 'Christopher Wool (b.1955)'; caption: 'Christopher Wool in collaboration with Felix Gonzalez-Torres / Untitled 1991 / Offset print on paper (endless copies) / 20.3 × 94 × 141 cm (at ideal height) / Hoffmann Collection, Berlin / Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York / Photo: Peter Muscato'; Dundee Contem

    CHRISTOPHER WOOL / FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES — Untitled, 1991 — Exhibition Postcard, TRAUMA, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2001

    CHRISTOPHER WOOL / FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES — Untitled, 1991 — Exhibition Postcard, TRAUMA, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2001

  • THE NEW RARE EDITIONS — Record: June 6, 2005. 2005 / 2008 / 2026. Unique appropriated auction catalogue, from a series of two related works. Original Phillips de Pury & Company softcover, Contemporary Art: Including Prints, Photographs & Multiples, New York, 6 June 2005; 76 pp. Front cover reproduces Richard Prince, Untitled (Kool-Aid), 1982/83 — close-up rephotograph of a Kool-Aid pitcher character against deep red ground; smiling face motif; glass pitcher with red liquid above; high-contrast saturated col THE NEW RARE EDITIONS — Record: June 6, 2005. 2005 / 2008 / 2026. Interior spread, pages 42–43, Phillips de Pury & Company, Contemporary Art: Including Prints, Photographs & Multiples, New York, 6 June 2005. Left page: Lot 732, Christopher Wool, 1987 — large black-and-white pattern print, estimate $70,000–90,000; Lot 733, Ross Bleckner, ca. 1990 — large black-and-white photograph of a chandelier, estimate $3,000–5,000. Right page: Lot 734, Richard Prince and Meyer Vaisman — colour photograph of a figure in

    THE NEW RARE EDITIONS — Record: Phillips de Pury & Company, Contemporary Art, June 6, 2005

    THE NEW RARE EDITIONS — Record: Phillips de Pury & Company, Contemporary Art, June 6, 2005

  • JANINE ANTONI, CHARLES ATLAS, PIPILOTTI RIST, RACHEL WHITEREAD, CHRISTOPHER WOOL et al.: Luhring Augustine — Artist Representation Card, New York, c. 2015–16 JANINE ANTONI, CHARLES ATLAS, PIPILOTTI RIST, RACHEL WHITEREAD, CHRISTOPHER WOOL et al.: Luhring Augustine — Artist Representation Card, New York, c. 2015–16

    JANINE ANTONI, CHARLES ATLAS, PIPILOTTI RIST, RACHEL WHITEREAD, CHRISTOPHER WOOL et al.: Luhring Augustine — Artist Representation Card, New York, c. 2015–16

    JANINE ANTONI, CHARLES ATLAS, PIPILOTTI RIST, RACHEL WHITEREAD, CHRISTOPHER WOOL et al.: Luhring Augustine — Artist Representation Card, New York, c. 2015–16