NARRATOR
Sterling Ruby
STERLING RUBY
So he’s basically turning text into abstractions. And it makes it harder to read. I mean, when you’re kind of sitting in a room full of Christopher Wool word paintings, it is very confusing.
This is a quintessential Christopher Wool text painting. It reads graphic and mantra-like. The text is taken from the lyrics of George Clinton’s Atomic Dog song.
NARRATOR
The phrases in Wool’s texts paintings come from various sources: song lyrics, philosophy, movie quotations. He was inspired to use text in his paintings when he saw the words “Sex” and “Love” spray-painted on the side of a delivery truck.
STERLING RUBY
Wool is an icon, an influence for anyone of my generation. Wool wound up merging two things that his entire generation kind of thought was impossible.
NARRATOR
No color, gesture, depth, representation, abstraction, or brushstrokes, no way this painting is telling us to feel.
STERLING RUBY
And now, you know, a generation that’s actually underneath of me finds no burden whatsoever to make a painting that is abstract and gesture derived.