FOUR TENNIS COURTS, 2021
Installation at Wood Kusaka Studios. Artwork © Jonas Wood. Photo: Marten Elder. Courtesy Wood Kusaka Studios and Gagosian
Opening June 2nd at Gagosian New York is JONAS WOOD / Four Tennis Courts, four new works in the continuation of this artist’s series. In the oil and acrylic canvases on view, Wood has reworked four of his favorite drawings from a suite of twenty-four produced between 2016 and 2018, all of which depict famous international tennis tournaments.
Wood first made use of sports imagery in dynamic post-Pop portraits derived from boxing, baseball, and basketball cards. He later became interested in depicting the physical spaces associated with sports. While watching games on television, Wood developed a shorthand approach to representing courts and fields, paring complex scenes down to geometric shapes and flat, saturated colors. Each court is rendered in large scale portrait format, preserving its key characteristics, while simplifying or eliminating the players and spectators.
The courts of Abu Dhabi, London, Melbourne, and Paris this new series are all distinguished by their iconic colors and identifying signage. Wimbledon with Bball Orchid (2021) and French Open with Orchid (2021) incorporate snippets of paintings of plants and basketballs, hinting at the studio space beyond the screen. Australian Open with Red Lines (2021) and Abu Dhabi (2021) feature strategically positioned abstract elements, with bars of red and black recalling postwar Color Field painting.
CLOCKWISE TOP LEFT: WIMBLEDON WITH BBALL ORCHID, 2021; AUSTRALIAN OPEN WITH RED LINES, 2021; FRENCH OPEN WITH ORCHID, 2021; ABU DHABI, 2021.
Together, this quartet forms a new Grand Slam of works on view from June 2nd – July 16th, perfectly timed with the French Open beginning May 30th, playing on the famous red clay of Roland Garros that Wood portrays.
JONAS WOOD
Australian Open with Red Lines, 2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas
88 x 66 in
223.5 x 167.6 cm
© Jonas Wood. Photo: Marten Elder. Courtesy Wood Kusaka Studios and Gagosian.
JONAS WOOD
French Open with Orchid, 2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas
88 x 66 in
223.5 x 167.6 cm
© Jonas Wood. Photo: Marten Elder. Courtesy Wood Kusaka Studios and Gagosian.
JONAS WOOD
French Open with Orchid, 2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas
88 x 66 in
223.5 x 167.6 cm
© Jonas Wood. Photo: Marten Elder. Courtesy Wood Kusaka Studios and Gagosian.
JONAS WOOD
Abu Dhabi, 2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas
88 x 66 in
223.5 x 167.6 cm
© Jonas Wood. Photo: Marten Elder. Courtesy Wood Kusaka Studios and Gagosian.
