"Repainting a Matisse painting, or a Picasso painting all these things just seem natural to me. I’m not trying to remake those things, I’m trying to make them in my own way because I’m so turned on by them." —Jonas Wood
Jonas Wood grew up surrounded by the greats. His artistically inclined family counted works by Matisse, Picasso, and Calder amongst their impressive personal art collection. Interacting with such prolific and influential artists in the intimacy of his home, Wood developed an attachment to their aesthetic elements, which are reflected in many of his later series. Drawing on the imagery of these Modern masters and experiences from his own life, Wood assembles photocollages which become the basis for his paintings and prints. The Matisse Pots series reflects the classic artistic genres of landscape and interior scenes set against the unexpected background of two-dimensional ceramics. Wood brings traditional genres of art into a contemporary dialogue, playfully challenging the canonical separations of medium and artistic movements. Drawing inspiration from Matisse’s L’Atelier Rouge (1911), Wood embraces fauvist color and fluid lines to animate the eternal theme of the artist’s studio, bridging the shared experience of artists and their collectors across generations.
Henri Matisse, L’Atelier Rouge, 1911 (painting depicted in Wood’s Matisse Pot 3)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkEmbracing the integration of genre and form, Wood brings contemporary narratives to existing paintings. Wood’s Clippings series draws on the ability of plants to regenerate from small pieces, an approach Wood takes to reimagine the themes of Matisse. The printmaking process is especially suited to concepts to emergence and transformation, as the layering of each color through a different screen allows for minor adjustments and the transformation of the print throughout the printing process. By constantly changing, the image becomes a live body of working creating a through line from its creation by Matisse to present form. Wood has given himself more freedom to focus on the creative liberties of printmaking by establishing his own studio, Wood Kusaka Studios, in collaboration with master printer, Jacob Samuel. Wood enjoys his freedom to experiment until he finds the best fitting combination of inspiration and images to achieve his current vision. The creation of the Matisse Pots spanned 2017 through 2018, reflecting the ethos of print as a medium of introspection and careful deliberation.
Literature
Jonas Wood interviewed by master printer Jacob Samuel, from Nonstop: Jonas Wood Speaks
with Jacob Samuel, Art in Print, vol. 8, no. 1, 2018
105
Matisse Pot 1; Matisse Pot 2; and Matisse Pot 3
2017-18
The complete set of three screenprints in colors, on Rising Museum board, the full sheets.
all S. 27 1/2 x 28 in. (69.9 x 71.1 cm)
All signed, dated and numbered 3/50 in pencil (there were also 10 artist's proofs), published by WKS (Wood Kusaka Studios), Los Angeles, California, all framed.
Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $81,900
Editions@phillips.com
212 940 1220
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 19-21 October 2021
20
This lot is no longer available.