Beschreibung:

PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN COLLECTION Christopher Wool Untitled (P 63) 1988 alkyd and flashe on aluminum 84 x 60 in. (213.4 x 152.4 cm) Signed, titled, numbered and dated “Untitled (P 63), Wool, 1988” on the reverse.
Provenance Luhring Augustine & Hodes Gallery, New York Collection of Günther Förg Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin Catalogue Essay Untitled (P 63), 1988, possesses a similar medium of aluminum but has a patterned surface uniquely its own; here, we see the same principles that Wool had used before—complete coverage of the surface and the use of a single motif in multiplicity—yet Wool’s target of review is not only that of Pop Art, but also the painterly techniques of Abstract Expressionism. In the Untitled (P 63), 1988, Wool chooses a section of dots that vary from minuscule to long and elliptical, then uses black enamel to paint them many times upon the surface of the picture. Upon close examination, one can spot the slight seams of Wool’s screens, and, in the end, it seems to measure roughly eighteen patterns vertically by twelve patterns horizontally. Though the dots and ellipses are in constant communication, both infringing upon each other’s sections and allowing the others their own space, they each have a dynamic of their own: if the viewer steps back from Untitled (P 63), 1988, they behold an illusion of movement—the self-contained sections of dots seem to undulate and recede before the viewer’s eyes. Wool’s patterns upon the aluminum may be painted somewhat regularly upon its surface, but there is no formula to Wool’s expressions. In creating this somewhat random, somewhat calculated piece before us, Wool combines principles of two of the Twentieth Century’s major art traditions: we see the multiplicity of Warhol’s Pop Art image in Wool’s regularity, yet we also observe the impetuous nature of Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism. Simultaneously an homage and a cross-criticism, Wool’s incisive use of multiple stylings gives its piece a signature unlike any other. Read More