2010 Honoree :: Christopher Wool
Photo credit Aubrey Mayer; image courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Christopher Wool, edited by Hans Werner Holzwarth, 2009
Written by Jim Lewis for Taschen Books
Christopher Wool Life and Work
Christopher Wool Life and Work 1955 Born in Boston to Glorye and Ira Wool family moves to Hyde Park on Chicago’s south side father molecular biologist mother to become psychiatrist 1955 “Please Please Please” by James Brown 1957 live dog orbits earth 1957 The Sweet Smell of Success dialogue by Clifford Odets 1958 brother Jonathon Wool born 1959 family moves to Cambridge England for one year 1959 Xerox manufactures first plain paper copier 1960 learns to read SEE STOP RUN 1965 Gale Sayers scores six touchdowns against San Francisco 49ers 1966 Sees Hairy Who’s first show at the Hyde Park Art Center 1967 studies photography University High School 1967 sees Dan Flavin’s alternating pink and “gold” MCA Chicago 1968 Sees Art Ensemble of Chicago 1972 studies painting with Richard Pousette-Dart Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville NY 1973 moves to New York City enrolls in Studio School studies with Jack Tworkov and Harry Kramer 1976 Rents loft on Chatham Square New York Chinatown 1977 punk rock black out no image 1977 summer of SAMO 1977 Jimmy Carter draft dodger amnesty 1979 Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola 1980 Studio assistant to Joel Shapiro part-time for following four years 1981 Dieter Roth visits Wool studio buys photocopy first sale 1983 Sees the first of Robert Gober’s sinks at Gober studio “I realized he had done something. And I realized I had to do something 1983 Rammelzee vs K Rob “Beat Bop” 1984 First shows at Clarissa Dalrymple and Nicole Klagsbrun’s Cable Gallery (artists of Wool’s generation who begin showing same period include Philip Taaffe Jeff Koons Mike Kelley Cady Noland and James Nares 1984 produces first book photocopied edition of four: 93 Drawings of Beer on the Wall 1984 Warhol Rorschach paintings 1986 First pattern paintings 1987 Joins Luhring Augustine Gallery 1987 First word paintings 1988 Collaborative installation with Robert Gober one painting by Wool (Apocalypse Now) one sculpture by Gober (Three Urinals) one collaborative photograph (Untitled) and a mirror Gary Indiana contributes a short piece of fiction to the accompanying publication 1988 In Cologne sees show of Albert Oehlen’s work meets Martin Kippenberger 1988 First European shows Cologne and Athens 1988 Collaborates with Richard Prince on two paintings: My Name and My Act 1989 Museum Group shows in Amsterdam Frankfurt am Main and Munich Whitney Biennial 1989 One year fellowship at the American Academy in Rome 1989 Starts taking photographs 1989 Publishes Black Book an oversized collection of 9-letter images 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall 1990 Meets Larry Clark 1991 First survey mounted at Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum Rotterdam publishes accompanying artist’s book Cats in Bag Bags in River color photocopies of photographs of black and white paintings 1991 Creates edition of small paintings for ACT-UP New York Needle Exchange 1991 Participates in Carnegie International includes painting and billboard with truncated text announcing “THE SHOW IS OVER” 1991 Meets Jim Lewis 1991 Relocates studio to East 9th Street in New York 1992 LA riots 1992 DAAD residency in Berlin 1993 Publishes Absent Without Leave 160 black-and-white images from travel photographs taken over previous 4 years 1993 Begins silkscreened flower paintings 1993 Meets Michel Majerus 1994 Makes road-signs for Martin Kippenberger’s Museum of Modern Art Syros 1994 New York Knicks lose to Houston Rockets in Game 7 NBA Finals 1995 Organizes retrospective of the New Cinema late 70’s New York underground Super-8 films 1995 First spray-paintings 1995 Kids 1996 East Village studio severely damaged in building fire leaving Wool without a working space for 8 months artist’s insurance photos become portfolio Incident on 9th Street 1997 Marries painter Charline von Heyl 1998 Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles mounts mid-career retrospective travels to Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburgh and Kunsthalle Basel 1998 Begins silkscreen re-imaging of own work 2001 Solo exhibition at Secession Vienna 2002 ‘Grey’ paintings 2003 East Broadway Breakdown photos of New York City 2005 First digital drawings 2006 Contributes art to Sonic Youth Rather Ripped 2007 Collaborates with Josh Smith on Can Your Monkey Do the Dog 2008 Collaborates with Richard Hell on Psychopts 2008 Christopher Wool lives and works in New York and Marfa Texas