Dimensions: support: 3200 x 2442 mm
Copyright: © Christopher Wool, courtesy of Luhring Augustine, NY | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Here we have an Untitled piece by Christopher Wool. It's quite large, over three meters tall, and resides here at the Tate. Editor: It gives me the impression of something being erased, or furiously painted over. You can almost feel the artist's hand, the speed of the brushstrokes. Curator: Absolutely, and I think that physicality is key. Wool often uses unconventional tools and techniques, embracing a rawness that challenges traditional notions of painting. It's like the labor is visible, laid bare. Editor: And the limited palette—the stark blacks and grays—focuses our attention on that process, on the way the paint is applied and manipulated. There's a real tension between control and chance. Curator: It's true, isn't it? There’s a sort of quiet scream in it, somehow. Editor: Well, it certainly makes you consider the effort it takes to create what at first appears to be very little. Curator: Exactly. It stays with you.
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This large abstract painting was made by brushing and spraying paint before wiping away at the surface with rags soaked in thinner. Because of the different drying times of his materials, the thinner sometimes erases a black trail of sprayed paint while retaining its outline as a kind of ghosted trace. Wool’s marks hark back to the language of abstract expressionism while also recalling the look of white-washed windows in closed-down shops, or the stains on city pavements. Gallery label, July 2015
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