Christopher Wool is this week’s Studio Sunday featured artist. Wool was born in Boston in 1955 and later moved to New York. An art school dropout, Wool’s formal education centered on painting before he became more interested in underground music and film.

Pictured above is Wool’s studio space in Marfa, Texas. The artist currently divides his time between Marfa and New York. The studio has the appearance of a warehouse – it’s probably a nice space given the hot climate of this location, though it does appear very cold and industrial in tone. Wool’s art tends to be hard-edged in its aesthetics, with notes that are reminiscent of street art. I find that the work placed in this space sort of imitates a graffiti-covered alley.

While perhaps best known for his works that feature heavy, black text on white negative space, Wool also creates abstract paintings by spraying odd, twisting lines of paint onto a canvas, then smearing them with solvent before they have a chance to dry. The process is repeated, creating a layered look – many of the works seen in the above and below photos are made by this process. The natural lighting and stark, plywood backdrop onto which the canvases are hung likens the spray paint and solvent to other, more industrial uses.

Wool is also an avid black and white photographer and has published a book featuring photographs taken at night in Lower East Side Manhattan, and New York’s Chinatown. He is married to fellow artist Charline von Heyl.

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