Christopher Wool On Sale

Christopher Wool is a contemporary American painter. In his paintings, Wool contrasts bold stenciled text or abstract brushwork with white backgrounds. In the stenciled works and prints, words run together and breaks arrive at the edges of the canvas, as seen in his Apocalypse Now (1988), which bears the phrase “SELL THE HOUSE SELL THE CAR SELL THE KIDS.”

“With the painting the inspiration comes from the process of the work itself,” Wool reflected. “Like music [making the work] is an emotional experience. It’s a visual language and it’s almost impossible to put words to it.”

Born on September 16, 1955 in Boston, MA, Wool studied briefly at Sarah Lawrence College, but quickly left to enroll at the New York Studio School. A contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman and others in New York’s downtown art scene in the 1980s, Wool introduced graffiti techniques to his work, later incorporating silkscreens and paint rollers.

Wool's work has been exhibited at numerous institutions around the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst am Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Wool currently lives and works between Marfa, TX, and New York, NY with his wife the painter Charline von Heyl.

Find a collection of original Christopher Wool art on 1stDibs.

Explore a vast range of abstract prints on 1stDibs to find a piece to enhance your existing collection or transform a space.

Unlike figurative paintings and other figurative art, which focuses on realism and representational perspectives, abstract art concentrates on visual interpretation. An artist may use a single color or simple geometric forms to create a world of depth. Printmaking has a rich history of abstraction. Through materials like stone, metal, wood and wax, an image can be transferred from one surface to another.

During the 19th century, iconic artists, including Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, Georgiana Houghton and others, began exploring works based on shapes and colors. This was a departure from the academic conventions of European painting and would influence the rise of 20th-century abstraction and its pioneers, like Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian.

Some leaders of European abstraction, including Franz Kline, were influenced by the gestural shapes of East Asian calligraphy. Calligraphy interprets poetry, songs, symbols or other means of storytelling into art, from works on paper in Japan to elements of Islamic architecture.

Bold, daring and expressive, abstract art is constantly evolving and dazzling viewers. And entire genres have blossomed from it, such as Color Field painting and Minimalism.

The collection of abstract art prints on 1stDibs includes etchings, lithographs, screen-prints and other works, and you can find prints by artists such as Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and more.