In the latest episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast A brush with…, Christopher Wool spoke to Ben Luke about his early career and influences as a young artist in Chicago and New York—and how not getting into a prominent West Coast art school changed his entire career trajectory.
As a teenager, Wool was an enthusiastic art student but “had absolutely no talent”, he told Luke.
“CalArts was just starting. I graduated high school in 1972 and they came over recruiting to my high school,” Wool said. “I don't think anybody but me was interested, and they basically said, ‘Look, we're new, so if you can get tuition together, you can come.’ And I thought, ‘Great, I will do that.’ And then I got rejected.”
Given his successful career, prominent public art commissions, ongoing exhibitions at Gagosian in London (until 19 December) and at the Brite Building in Marfa, Texas—where Wool resides when he is not in New York—and thriving market, it might surprise some listeners that Wool faced rejection early on in his career.
“I was rejected at every school I ever applied to, except the Studio,” Wool said, referring to the New York Studio School, where he enrolled in 1973 and studied under the Abstract Expressionist artists Jack Tworkov and Harry Kramer.
“I can't say that having been at CalArts would have been better in any way,” Wool says. “I got lucky, as I had been before, and fell into the New York art world.”
- Listen to the full A brush with... interview with Christopher Wool here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.