.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Christopher Wool's text paintings highlight the difficulty of producing and conveying unambiguous meaning, both in art and language. 'Cats In Bag' shouts at us from the cold aluminium surface, yet its meaning deliberately evades us, inviting multiple readings. Reminiscent of a billboard, the large format of the work dominates the viewer, begging for attention. Rather than depicting a scene figurative motif, Wool has chosen to use bold, black, stencilled lettering as a visual device, deliberately avoiding punctuation or conventional syntax to complicate the interpretation.
It is unclear whether the statement 'Cats In Bag' is supposed to evoke the image of creatures imprisoned in a sack, or, less literally, that the artist has a secret that he may or may not wish to reveal by letting 'the cat out of the bag'. The phrase has been paired in other works with the grim ending; 'Bags In River', yet in Untitled (P137), the initial statement is left open so the meaning may be interpreted in various ways.
Wool first initiated his project in wordplay by appropriating the graffitied words 'SEX LUV' from the side of a white van in New York. Wool's admiration for the vandal's attack on the pristine white surface was adopted to compliment his strictly reductive process of painting. Wool avoids the creation of imagery and direct individualistic marks of the paintbrush, yet he leaves room for drips, slippages and mistakes. Wool's paintings embrace contradiction, combining serious minimalist principles and practice with references to the everyday and the culture of the street. By using stencils in Untitled (P137), with their capacity for unlimited reproduction, and words in place of image, Wool consistently refuses to produce what is expected of the painting medium. Through his use of language, both visual and linguistic, Wool toys with our desire as viewers to want to 'read' what the painted surface presents
It is unclear whether the statement 'Cats In Bag' is supposed to evoke the image of creatures imprisoned in a sack, or, less literally, that the artist has a secret that he may or may not wish to reveal by letting 'the cat out of the bag'. The phrase has been paired in other works with the grim ending; 'Bags In River', yet in Untitled (P137), the initial statement is left open so the meaning may be interpreted in various ways.
Wool first initiated his project in wordplay by appropriating the graffitied words 'SEX LUV' from the side of a white van in New York. Wool's admiration for the vandal's attack on the pristine white surface was adopted to compliment his strictly reductive process of painting. Wool avoids the creation of imagery and direct individualistic marks of the paintbrush, yet he leaves room for drips, slippages and mistakes. Wool's paintings embrace contradiction, combining serious minimalist principles and practice with references to the everyday and the culture of the street. By using stencils in Untitled (P137), with their capacity for unlimited reproduction, and words in place of image, Wool consistently refuses to produce what is expected of the painting medium. Through his use of language, both visual and linguistic, Wool toys with our desire as viewers to want to 'read' what the painted surface presents