See Stop Run

Works from See Stop Run - Marfa, TX

Christopher Wool brought his visual language of downtown New York City to Marfa, but the small Texas town met him with a radically different place in which to reconsider it. For Wool, his work emerged from New York’s punk and No Wave music scene carving his way through an exhausting art scene with his works of stenciled lettering and repeated patterns. His pieces are artistically controlled between accidental and ordered, making them true conversation starters among the art scene. When he arrived in Texas in 2006 for his residency at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa gave him quite the juxtaposed backdrop to work in with serene, star filled skies and long, muted landscapes. It was the opposite of what he was used to in New York City. The loud, hustle and bustle type of environment with a constant sense of urgency was met with an uncluttered, tranquil pace. It was this exact scene that paved the way for Wool to explore a different side of artistry allowing for the evolution in his art that we see today.

If you find yourself roaming through the streets of Marfa, you may run into the Brite Building, previously occupied by the Ayn Foundation before it closed in 2024. The gallery space located on N. Highland Avenue, with its high ceilings and heavy steel doors, acts like a protective encasing that has displayed, yet shielded, works from artists like Joa Baldinger, Dan Flavin and Andy Warhol to name a few. Today, you’ll find a grandiose exhibition by artist Christopher Wool. The larger than life screen printed works, 16’-foot-high mosaic tile piece and balls of entangled wire engulf the space while leaving breathing (and walking) room for guests to get a 360-degree view of some of the pieces. 

The hanging wire sculptures have an interesting story. During his stint at the Chinati Foundation, he ran across a ball of tumbled wire which reminded him of his abstract line drawings with a sense of fluidity with no start or finish. His wire works now portray that same level of creative continuity, but on a much larger scale. The entangled wire pulls the eye to follow the curves and sharp turns within the piece in a seemingly never-ending flow. The exhibition is titled See Stop Run, named after a similar show that Wool organized in New York in 2024. It also features photographic series including Yard (2018) that will have you seeing double with a layering effect that gives the photographs unexpected dimension and depth. 

The exhibition, See Stop Run, runs through May 2027 and is free to the public.