Christopher Wool: Sound on Sound

Catalogue accompanies the exhibition held at Corbett vs. Dempsey October 27–November 27, 2010, the first solo show for Wool in Chicago since 1986.

Wool lives and works in New York City and Marfa, Texas, but was raised in Hyde Park, Chicago. An internationally renowned painter, Wool first rose to prominence with a series of bold text-based paintings, some of which were shown in an important three-person exhibit at The Renaissance Society (with Albert Oehlen and Georg Herold) in 1989. Over the last thirty years, Wool has explored many different methods for creating abstract images, often utilizing printmaking techniques in combination with painting. His palette is generally reduced to black, white, and grey, with occasional passages of color taking on a highly dramatic role. In his more recent works, including those in this show, he uses enamel on linen, spray painting looping black lines, then erasing or blurring them with rags, engaging in a complex play of presence and absence, gesture and cancellation. 

Text by John Corbett. Photographs by Aubrey Mayer. Designed by Kathi Beste. 

Published by Corbett vs. Dempsey, 1992, softcover, 32 pages, 9 x 7 inches.