Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection

Installation photo of two large black and white abstract works hang on floating gallery walls with...

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

Multiple floor view of the exhibition space with multiple abstract works of different sizes on...

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

Maybe Maybe Not presents an emblematic selection of the work of American artist Christopher Wool. It inaugurates the exhibition program of the Hill Art Foundation, a cultural center conceived to offer broad public access to the seminal collection of contemporary and historical works assembled by J. Tomilson and Janine Hill over the past four decades.

Since coming to prominence in the 1980s, Christopher Wool has conducted a richly nuanced investigation of the possibilities of pictorial composition. This presentation of paintings, works on paper, photographs and prints encapsulates the evolution of the artist’s career, ranging from early experiments with readymade forms in his pattern and word paintings to more recent explorations of spontaneous gesture and digital intervention. Threading through Wool’s use of stenciled flowers, wildly looping spray paint, passages of violent erasure, and silkscreened apparitions of his own past imagery is a tension between freedom and constraint that has always animated his work.

Read Essay by Katherine Brinson

a black and white photograph of a dirt road with a turn ahead, leading into many trees

Road, 2018Portfolio of 18 gelatin silver printsFrom an edition of 12 and 3 artist's proofs© Christopher Wool; Courtesy of Luhring Augustine, New York

a black and white photograph of a dirt road with surrounding trees

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with truck markings and fences and trees on the side...

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with a large puddle of muddy water situated in the...

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road that leads to many trees ahead

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with truck markings

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road that diverges into two roads

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road that splits to two ahead

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with many rocks and a turn ahead

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with trees that are casting shadows to the ground

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a black and white photograph of a dirt road with a turn ahead

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a black and white landscape photograph of cloudy sky looming over a dirt road with truck markings...

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black and white photograph of a rocky dirt road with crooked fences and trees on the side of the...

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a black and white landscape photograph of cloudy sky looming over a dirt road with a turn ahead

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black and white photograph of a mud road with truck markings

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a black and white photo of a dirt road with dead trees and bushes on the side of the road

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Black and white toned image with artwork on walls and long marble conference towards the center...

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

Black and white image of objects and flora located in dirt area

Yard, 2018Portfolio of 24 gelatin silver printsFrom an edition of 12 and 3 artist's proofs© Christopher Wool; Courtesy of Luhring Augustine, New York

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Black and white image of rubber wheel objects and flora located in dirt area

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Black and white image of rubber, metal objects and flora located in dirt area

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Photography has long played an integral role in Wool’s practice, and this exhibition debuts two new photographic series. Whereas his previous work in the medium focused on scenes of alienation and degradation in the urban landscape, this more recent production documents the landscape of West Texas, where the artist has a home. Employing a disarming convergence of exposures, Yard locates unexpected sculptural vignettes in the ramshackle detritus surrounding semi-rural dwellings, while Road captures empty stretches of rough, overgrown track in which a destination is always deferred.

This exhibition will be accompanied by a series of educational programs and partnerships with New York City schools.

Photo of a painting with bold black flower design with layers of white paint on a soft white background

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

View of a bronze equestrian statue one a pedestal inside a white-walled niche

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

Installation photo of three large abstract works hang on floating gallery walls with window views...

Installation view: Maybe Maybe Not: Christopher Wool and the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, February 9–June 28, 2019. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

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