32. Jonas Wood
b. 1977
Untitled (Red and Black) signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘JBPW “UNTITLED (RED AND BLACK)” 2009’ on the reverse oil on linen 167.6 x 109.2 cm. (66 x 43 in.) Painted in 2009. Estimate £80,000-120,000 $97,400-146,000 €91,100-137,000 ‡ Provenance Anton Kern Gallery, New York Private Collection, New York Private Collection, Europe Exhibited Los Angeles, Hammer Museum, Hammer Project: Jonas Wood, 5 February - 9 May 2009, pp. 18-19 (illustrated)
Rhythmic circular and bold geometric rectilinear forms align on the intensely coloured plane of Untitled (Red and Black), containing Jonas Wood’s most popular subject matter, the plant. A means for painting from life, for Wood plants are a tool through which he asserts his own language. Celebrated for his simplifed treatment of everyday scenarios, Wood has mastered the presentation of reality with a surreally fattened perspective. Taking liberties with compressed graphic forms, suggestive of the subject matter, the textures and bold shapes emphasise the illusion of distorted space. Less realist in colour and form, the present example of Wood’s favoured subject matter recalls the geometric superiority of Kazimir Malevich. Malevich who moved away from the solitary use of the square, was attracted to the dynamism of rectangles and circles. Similarly, fellow abstract pioneer Wassily Kandinsky heralded the special importance of the triangle in his 1912 book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. All essential elements in the study of alchemy, the circle, triangle and square come together in Untitled (Red and Black) to form the fattened perspective of a simple yet elegant plant.
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Here the viewer is confronted by a seemingly level plane; dimensions and perspective are superfuous to the illusionary composition. Stark colours and a limited palette, shared by Suprematist purity, leave the strong silhouettes of Untitled (Red and Black) immovable at the centre of the composition. With the title referencing colour over subject matter, Wood highlights the importance of form and colour over his beloved and ofen revisited subject matter. Exhibited alongside a series of other superbly minimalist plant works in 2010 at Hammer Projects, the present work serves as a prism of the artist’s memory, a visual diary of lasting impressions. Casting an illusionary perspective across the plane, the realistic subject matter is objectifed. Wood preserves the beauty of the unassuming horticultural subject matter, combining modernist abstraction with realistic fguration. Through his partially abstract rendering of subjects, Wood’s montage-based subject is lef uncompromised. Simpler in form than his other more realistic plant and supremely abstract, the still life evokes nostalgia, elevating the viewer to a realm of pure interior scenery.
13/06/17 09:11