Christopher Wool, © The artist
Christopher Wool (b. 1955, Chicago) is a leading American painter renowned for his innovative approaches to abstraction and text-based works. Best known for his large, monochrome stenciled-letter paintings, Wool's practice spans diverse mediums such as painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. His work often explores the tension between creation and erasure, depth and flatness, gesture and removal. By layering techniques like spray painting, screen printing, hand painting and whitewashing over previous marks, Wool creates compositions that obscure and transform their original elements, engaging in a process-oriented dialogue with contemporary art.
Wool began his artistic career in the mid-1970s, influenced by the process-based aesthetics of Post-minimalism. In the 1980s, he adopted innovative techniques, including patterned rollers, stencils and silkscreens, to produce works that challenge traditional notions of subject matter and form. His iconic letter-based paintings often feature fragmented or obscured text with biting, cryptic messages. Over time, Wool introduced additional elements like spray paint and deliberate erasures, pushing the boundaries of expression.
His work has been extensively exhibited worldwide, with major solo shows at prestigious institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Museum Ludwig (Cologne) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles). Wool has also participated in international biennials, including the Venice Biennale and Whitney Biennial. His contributions to contemporary art have earned him accolades like the Wolfgang Hahn Prize and residencies at DAAD Berlin and the Chinati Foundation.
Wool currently lives and works in New York City and Marfa (Texas) continuing to explore the evolving possibilities of process and medium in his art.