LONDON.- An early work by Christopher Wool, estimated at £850,000-1,250,000, is a highlight in Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary Sale on 29 June 2017.

Untitled from 1991 represents the high watermark of this earliest and most daring period of Wool’s career. The complexity of the composition marks this work as one of the finest examples from his enamel series.

The design, with its blurred edges, smears and blots suggesting haste, was applied using rubber stamps and rollers. Many of the vines and leaves are repetitions, creating patterns with no clear beginning or end. Wool removed himself from the physical process of painting, like Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock before him, leaving no traces of brushstrokes or painterly flourishes.

Ralph Taylor, Bonhams Director of Post-War and Contemporary Art said, “Throughout his successful career, Wool has developed an instantly recognizable and individualistic aesthetic, of which Untitled is a fine example. His work is timeless.”

Wool was born in Boston and raised in Chicago. He studied at the New York Studio school and worked as a studio assistant for sculptor Joel Shapiro. By the late 1980s, his black and white images were drawing attention from critics and collectors alike. His work is now held in major institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.