Andy Woll

MT. WILSON (WESTERN STORY)

2016
oil on canvas
54 x 37 1/2 inches

In Andy Woll’s Mt. Wilson series, the highest point of the San Gabriel Mountains is depicted repeatedly, in varying sizes and colors. Mt. Wilson’s presence in relation to Los Angeles is that of a backdrop, an overarching image that recedes from the immediacy of quotidian exchanges happening within the city. The mountain becomes similarly diffuse in Woll’s paintings – ubiquitous and iconic, at least to those living in Los Angeles, it is a subject to hang the act of painting on. For Woll, painting is an intuitive, associative act, in which he paints quickly after preparing a ground, developing each color palette according to themes in the music he listens to while working.

[excerpted from Night Gallery website]