Biography

Christopher Wool
(Born 1955)

Christopher Wool was born in Chicago in 1955. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Wool’s works span several mediums such as paper, photography and painting. He began developing his style during the mid 1970s, when he started creating allover abstract paintings that included multiple mark makings. His artistic influences are very diverse, but the process-based emphasis of Post-minimalism became very important in his work at this time. Throughout the 1980s Wool’s emphasis on process increased as he created allover paintings that shied away from specific subject matter and form. Eventually, he began incorporating printmaking techniques such as patterned rubber paint rollers, rubber stamps, stencils and silkscreens to create his now famous enamel-on metal works. With this multiplicity of techniques, Wool created paintings that are highly reminiscent of wallpaper, or that include large monochrome letters that are at sometimes difficult to discern or cunningly depict partial words, and a biting message. In the last fifteen years Wool has introduced additional elements in his works such as spray paint and erasure with white paint over previously created marks. This tension between painting and erasing, gesture and removal, depth and flatness is the result of Wool’s endless exploration of artistic expression and the role that process plays in the creation of meaning for the artist.

Christopher Wool has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions of his work have been held in institutions such as the Museum Ludwig in Cologne in 2008, the Musee d'Art Moderne et Contemporain in Strasbourg in 2006 and the Centre d'Art Contemporain Geneve in Geneva in 2000. He has also participated in exhibitions in major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Wool has also participated in several international biennials, and his work has been featured in multiple publications. Christopher Wool lives and works in New York.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005
Gio Marconi and Christian Stein, Milan

2004
Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
Christopher Wool 2004, Camden Arts Centre, London (catalogue)
Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp

2003
Christopher Wool, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany
Crosstown Crosstown, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, UK (catalogue)

2002
Crosstown Crosstown, Le Consortium, Dijon; traveling to Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (catalogue)
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

2001
Secession, Vienna
9th Street Run Down, Luhring Augustine, New York11 Duke Street, London, UK
Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp

2000
Black Book Drawings 1989, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York
Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece

1999
Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva

1998
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; traveling to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
Ophiuchus Collection, The Hydra Workshop, Greece
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

1997
Portofolio Kunst AG, Vienna
Eleni Koroneou, Greece
Luhring Augustine, New York
Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

1996
Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

1995
Luhring Augustine, New York
Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris

1994
Bruno Brunnet Fine Arts, Berlin

1993
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne

1992
Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles
Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna
Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
Luhring Augustine, New York

1991
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
Luhring Augustine, New York
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern

1990
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Galerie Christian Stein, Torino
Works on Paper, Luhring Augustine, New York

1989
Monotypes, Edition Julie Sylvester, New York
New Work:Christopher Wool, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne

1988
Jean Bernier, Athens
Luhring, Augustine & Hodes Gallery, New York

1987
Luhring, Augustine & Hodes Gallery, New York
Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

1986
Cable Gallery, New York
Robbin Lockett Gallery, Chicago

1984
Cable Gallery, New York

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2004
Flower Power, Palais des Beaux-Arts et Musee de L’Hospice Comtesse, Lille, France
Ice Hot - Recent Paintings from the Scharpff Collection, Hamburger Kunstalle; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (catalogue)

2003
A Way With Words, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Stranger in the Village: Contemporary Drawings and Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art, Guild Hall, East Hampton
Family Ties. A Contemporary Perspective, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Visual Poetics: Art and the Word, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
The Great Drawing Show; 1550 - 2003 A.D., Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2002
The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica
A Thousand Hounds, Paine Webber Art Gallery, New York; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Copy, Roth Horowitz, New York
A New York Renaissance: Masterworks from the Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Palazzo Reale, Milan (catalogue)
Five by Five: Contemporary Artists on Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York
Hello to Handmade Words, K.S. Art, New York
Painting on the Move, Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum fur Gegenwartskunst Basel, and Kunsthalle Basel, Basel (catalogue)
Ahead of the 21st Century- The Pisces Collection, Furstenberg Sammlungen, Donaueschingen (catalogue)
To Be Looked At: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York (catalogue)

2001
W, Musee des Beaux Arts, Dole, France
Trauma, National Touring Exhibitons, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, UK
New Acquisitions from the Dakis Joannou Collection, Deste Foundation, Center for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
Christopher Wool, New Paintings, Herbert Brandl, Neue Bilder, Sabine Knust, Munich
A Way with Words, Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris, New York, NY
Patterns: Between Object and Arabesque, Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark

2000
On Language, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
Hotel Motel Holiday Inn, I-D Magazine, 196, April 2000, p. 195
La prima idea, Graphische Sammlung de ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Malerei, Charim Klocker Wien, Austria
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Le Jeu des 7 Familles, mamco: Musee d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneve, Switzerland
La Prima Idea: Aktuelle Malerei auf Papier, Graphische Sammlung der ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Mixing Memory and Desire, New Museum of Art Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
The Swamp: On the Edge of Eden, University of Florida, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
To Infinity and Beyond, Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York
Counter Editions at the Chelsea Hotel, New York
Art at MoMA since 1980, MoMa, New York

1999
Free Coke, Greene Naftali, New York
Art at the End of the Century - Contemporary Art from the Milwaukee Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
Multiplicity, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica
Silent Treatment: Projecting Narrative, Curated by Thea Westreich, Aspen Art Museum
Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais. Een Keuze
Visualizing Digiteracy: Considering Current Technologies, Memphis College of Art, TN
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
Bloom: Contemporary Art Garden, curated by Gianni Romano, Milan, Italy
Reverse Impressions, City Gallery, New York, NY
The Great Drawing Show 1550 to 1999, Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Passion and the Waves, 6th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey

1998
Real Stories, Marianne Boesky Gallery & Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
Exterminating Angel, curated by Joshua Decter, Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
Exploiting the Abstract, Feigen Contemporary, New York,
Double Trouble: The Patchett Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Elements of the Natural, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Weather Everything, Galerie fur Zeitgenossische Kunst Leipzig, Leipzig
Scratches on the Surface of Things - Acquisitions of Contemporary American Art, Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Harriet Craig, Curated by David Rimanelli, Apex Art C.P., New York
Die Parkett-Kunstlereditionen im Museum Ludwig, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
The Patchett Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Six Americans, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York
Luhring Augustine, New York

1997
Birth of the Cool: American Painting From Georgia O'Keeffe to Christopher Wool, Kunsthaus Zurich, travelling to Hamburg
"Painting Photography Drawing, Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Group Show (Robert Gober, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Moke, Stephen Prina, Cheri Samba, Cindy Sherman, Christopher Wool), Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris
Serial Imagery, (Andy Warhol, Christopher Wool, Philip Taaffe) Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles
American Realities, Views from Abroad, European Perspectives on American Art 3, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Family Values, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
On the Edge: Contemporary Art from the Werner and Elaine Dannheisser Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York

1996
New Art on Paper, 2, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Screen, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
Kingdom of Flora, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica
Fellows of the American Academy in Rome, The Equitable Center, New York
The Sense of Order, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Gray Matter, Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica
Peinture - Peinture, Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris
Thinking Print:Books to Billboards, 1980-95, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Cenas Domesticas, Modulo, Lisbon
Art at Home, Ideal Standard Life, Spiral Gallery 1F, Tokyo
Everything That's Interesting Is New: The Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens School of Fine Arts the factory, Athens, Greece; Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen; Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York

1995
Duck, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
100 Works on Paper, Galerie de la Tour, Amsterdam
Galleria Alessandra Bonomo, Rome
Pittura Immedia, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum und Kunstlerhaus Graz
Articulations: Forms of Language in Contemporary American Art, The Whitney Museum, New York
James Nares & Christopher Wool, Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles
25 Americans: Painting in the 90s, Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
XL, Galerie Borgmann Capitain, Cologne
Luhring Augustine, New York
Malerei, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Wallpaper Works, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas
Made in U.S.A.-Original works on Paper, Bob van Orsouw Gallery, Zurich
Images Against AIDS, Art Metropole, Toronto
Drawing on Chance: Selections from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York

1994
Empty Dress, Organized by Independent Curators International, traveling to: Neuberger Museum, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, University if North Texas, Mackenzie Art Gallery, The Gallery/Stratford, Selby Gallery
The Museum of Modern Art; Martin Kippenberger, director; Syros, Greece
Gallerie K, Oslo
Lousy Fear, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago
Ossuary, Luhring Augustine, New York
Contemporary Art from the Collection of the Migros Cooperatives, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano, Switzerland
Gift, The InterArt Center, New York
Supershadows of Understatement: Christopher Wool and Ulli Strothjohann, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens
Some Like It Cool, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Super Shadows of Understatement, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens
Herbert Brandl, Albert Oehlen, Christopher Wool, National Gallery, Prague
On Paper, Schmidt ContemporaryArt, St. Louis
Ground, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Violence/Business-Gewalt/Geschafte, Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst, Berlin

1993
Works by Younger Artists from the Collection of Richard Brown Baker, The Century Association, New York
Zeitsprunge:Collection of Rudolf und Ute Scharpff, Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen
The Brushstrike:Painting in the 90's, Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica
Gober, Kelley, Kippenberger, Koons, Sherman, Wool, Galerie Schurr, Stuttgart
Reading Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
20th Anniversary Exhibition Part II, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Santa Monica
Black & White, Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Drawing the Line Against AIDS, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; The Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York
The Language of Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
New York Painters, Sammlung Goetz, Munich

1992
Allegories of Modernism:Contemporary Drawing, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Works on Paper:Forg, Gonzalez-Torres, Kilimnik, Kippenberger, Nares, Oehlen, Pensato, Prina, Wool, Luhring Augustine, New York
Herold, Oehlen, Wool works on paper, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco
Luhring Augustine, New York
Documenta IX, Kassel
Fifth Anniversary Show, Karsten Schubert Ltd., London
Somewhere Between Image & Text, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Prints in Portfolios, Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York
Dark Decor, Organized by Independent Curators Inc.; DePree Art Center, Hope College, Holland, MI; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, Belle, FL; The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ; The Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta
The Word-Image in Contemporary Art, The James Howe Gallery, Kean College of New Jersey
Gober, Kawara, Kelley, Kippenberger, Koons, Oehlen, Schnabel, Sherman, Struth, Taaffe, Wool, Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne
Landscape Untitled: Halley, Oehlen, Wool, Galerie Senda, Barcelona
Drawings, Stuart Regen Gallery, Los Angeles
Robbin Lockett, Chicago
Slow Art:Painting in New York Now, P.S.1 Museum, New York
Dirty Data:Collection of Wilhelm Schurmann, Ludwig Forum fur internationale Kunst, Aachen
Ars Pro Domo:Contemporary Art from Koln Private Collections, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Drawn in the Nineties, traveling exhibition organized by ICI; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah; Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington; Illingworth Kerr Art Gallery, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Canada; Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Oh! Cet Echo, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
Plakate, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
Spielholle, Akademie der Kunste und Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main; Grazer Kunstverein, Graz; Galerie Sylvana Lorenz, Paris
Multiplicity:An Exhibition of Recent Editions, Thea Westreich, New York

1991
New American Art:Mary Beyt, Greg Colson, ChristopherWool, Ho Gallery World Art, Hong Kong
Metropolis, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
Gulliver's Travels, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne
Words & #'s, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
Strange Abstraction, The Touko Museum of Art, Tokyo
Herbert Brandl, Albert Oehlen, Christopher Wool, Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna
Drawing Acquisitions, 1980-1991:Selections from the Permanent Collection", Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York
Druckgrafik, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
51st Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
American Artists of the Eighties, Palazzo delle Albere, Trento, Italy
Selections from the Elaine and Werner Dannheisser Collection:Painting and Sculpture From the 80's and 90's, The Parrish Art Museum, East Hampton, NY
At the end of the day, Randy Alexander Gallery, New York
Museum of Natural History, Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam

1990
Michael Craig-Martin, Gary Hume, Christopher Wool, Karsten Schubert Ltd., London
New Work:A New Generation, San Francisco MoMA, San Francisco
Stephen Prina, Sam Samore, Christopher Wool, Galerie Ursula Schurr, Stuttgart
Drawings, Luhring Augustine Hetzler, Santa Monica
American Geometric Abstraction and Other Works from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Language in Art, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Donald Baechler, Gunther Forg, Georg Herold, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Albert Oehlen, Julian Schnabel, Terry Winters, Christopher Wool, Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne
In the Beginning..., Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland

1988
James Casebere, Stephen Prina, Christopher Wool, Robbin Lockett Gallery, Chicago
Robert Gober and Christopher Wool, An Installation, 303 Gallery, New York
Six Americans, Bleckner, Halley, Levin, Taaffe, Wool, Welling, Galerie Lelong, New York
A Drawing Show, Cable Gallery, New York
Een keuze/A Show, Amsterdam
Information as Ornament, Feature Gallery, Chicago; Rezac Gallery, Chicago
The Light from the Other Side, Monika Spruth Galerie, Cologne
The Binational - American Art of the Late 80's, ICA & MFA Boston, Stadtische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf Kunstverein, Bremen, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
Bickerton, Gober, Halley, Koons, Prince, Vaisman, Wool, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles

1987
Painting, Abstraction Rediscovered, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
Jamie Wolff Gallery, New York
Ange Leccia, Christopher Wool, Cable Gallery, New York
Alexander, Bolande, Ebner, Kane, Wool, Robbin Lockett Gallery, New York
New Territories in Art Europe/America, Michetti Foundation, Chieti, Italy
Johnson, Tasset, Wool, Kuhlenschmidt/Simon, Los Angeles
Facture, Laurie Rubin Gallery, New York
Industrial Icons, University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego
Drawn Out, Kemper Gallery, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City
A Decade of American Drawings 1980-1989, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles

1986
Inaugural Exhibition, Robbin Lockett Gallery, Chicago
The Gallery Show, Exit Art, New York
The Hidden Surface, Middendorf Gallery, Washington D.C.
Signs of Painting, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago
Fortuyn/O'Brien, Lemieux, Mullican, Wool, Luhring, Augustine & Hodes Gallery, New York
Fabricated, Not Found, Loughelton Gallery, New York

1985
AIDS Benefit, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Cable Gallery, New York
Factura, Gallery Schlesinger-Boisante, New York
Botts, Lee, Miller, Wool, Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York
Stigmata, Bond Street Gallery, New York
Drawings 1975-1985, Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York
Apfelschnitt, Bills, Chamberlain, Lucas, Nares, Wool, Anne Plumb Gallery, New York

1984
Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Chill Out New York, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York
Drawings, Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York
Sex, Cable Gallery, New York
Saloon Salon, Bill Rice Gallery, New York

1983
Big American Figure Drawings, Visual Arts Museum, New York
Abbott, Fink, Lieber, Wool, Delahunty Gallery, New York
Selected Drawings, Jersey City Museum, New Jersey

1982
Group Exhibition, White Columns, New York

ARTIST'S BOOKS
2002
THE LOGAN COLLECTION: A PORTRAIT OF OUR TIME, Vail: The Logan Collection
2001
Korine, Harmony and Wool, Christopher, PASS THE BITCH CHICKEN, Holzwarth Publications,Berlin, 2001
MAYBE, MAYBE NOT, Edition of 500, Published by Inktree Editions, Kusnacht
CHRISTOPHER WOOL, artist book published on occasion of solo exhibition at Secession, Wien
1999
FOCUS, Edition of 40, xeroxed, self-published, New York
1996
INCIDENT ON 9TH STREET, Fama & Fortune Bulletin 18, P&S Wien
1995
SHUT UP STUPID I'M WORKING - THE COMPLETE LETTERS AND POEMS(a.k.a. THE PETER PROBLEM), Edition of 8, xeroxed, self-published, New York
1993
ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE, published by DAAD, Berlin
1991
CATS IN BAG BAGS IN RIVER, artist book published on the occasion of an exhibition at Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
LOW AND SLOW, artist book of color laser prints, 60 pages, Edition of 12 plus 3 Artist's Proofs, self published, Rome
1989
BLACK BOOK, Edition of 350, published by Galerie Gisela Capitain and Thea Westreich Assoc.
1988
Untitled artist book on the occasion of an exhibition at Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
1985
EMPIRE OF THE GOAT, Edition of 33, self published
1984
93 DRAWING OF BEER ON THE WALL, Edition of 5, self published