March 16 – April 21, 2012
Steve Turner Contemporary is pleased to present The Quadrant of Caricature, an exhibition of new paintings created in the last two years by Rowan Wood.
Wood’s psychologically charged paintings explore the nature of visual language, parsed into “signs” that communicate formal and connotative ideas. Personally invented and culturally borrowed, these signs are combined to convey concepts within individual and grouped canvases. In either scenario, they function as sentences to be read, and as coded references–to the medium of painting, to privately meaningful symbols, to icons of contemporary culture’s obsessions. A sense of humor factors into these paintings too, even as they are moody and cerebral.
Wood’s paintings appear simple at first glance, but a longer look reveals the artist’s impeccable attention to craftsmanship. For example, all marks, including straight lines, are painstakingly painted by hand. In some canvases, kinetic patterns dazzle the eye. This effect can be overt, such as in the “Burn in Hell” paintings (upstairs), or subtle, as in the “hand-turkey” paintings (downstairs, among other canvases). Often the effect is not apparent until viewing from a 45-degree angle brings out juxtaposed hues – a reward for looking.
Steve Turner Contemporary is also pleased to announce the publication of Rowan Wood: Five Years of Paintings, with an essay by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and thirty illustrations of Wood’s paintings.
Born in San Francisco in 1977, Wood earned a BA in Art from UCLA in 2009. He had a solo exhibition at Steve Turner (2010) and his works have been in group exhibitions including Wall to Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles (2010); Supernatural, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles (2010) and Panorama Los Angeles (ARCO Madrid, curated by Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles, 2010).
Born in San Francisco in 1977, Rowan Wood earned a BA in Fine Art from UCLA in 2009. He has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner (2010, 2012 & 2013) and his works have been in group exhibitions including Wall to Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles (2010); Supernatural, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles (2010) and Panorama Los Angeles (ARCO Madrid, curated by Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles, 2010). Rowan Wood: Five Years of Paintings, with an essay by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and thirty illustrations of Wood’s paintings, was published in 2012.
Born 1977, San Francisco
Lives and works in Los Angeles
Education
2009
BA, University of California, Los Angeles
Solo Exhibitions
2013
Apples: Collaborative Sculpture by Eben Goff and Rowan Wood, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
2012
The Quadrant of Caricature, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
2010
For the Benefit of Humanity, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
Feed Me Dignity, La Fonda, Los Angeles (curated by Mario Rocha)
2010
Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Panorama: Los Angeles, ARCO Madrid, (Steve Turner Contemporary), (curated by Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles)
Six Los Angeles Artists, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, (Steve Turner Contemporary)
Supernatural, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles
2009
WET PAINT: Ten Young Los Angeles Painters, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
Like Lovable Orphaned Kitties and Bastard Children, Milwaukee, (curated by Kristin Calabrese)
Matt Connors, Nancy De Holl, Michael Rashkow and Rowan Wood, Parker Jones Gallery, Los Angeles
2009
Rowan Wood, Michael Rashkow, Eli Langer, Sundays Gallery, Los Angeles
The Last Show, The Black Dragon, Los Angeles, (curated by Roger Herman)
2007
Big Secret Cache, Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, (curated by Kristin Calabrese)
2006
Apocalypse Soon, QED, Los Angeles, (curated by Kristin Calabrese)
Untitled, Blue Gallery 7, Santa Monica, (curated by Heather Brown)
Bibliography
2011
Hammond, Drew. Steve Turner’s L.A. Underground, Art Economist, Volume 1, Issue 6, Summer
2010
Ollman, Leah. Rowan Wood at Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles Times, May 6
Martens, Anne. Rowan Wood, Flash Art, July – September Issue
Rowan Wood. Five Years of Paintings. Essay by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer.
Los Angeles: Steve Turner Contemporary, 2012.
Design by Victoria Dailey.
Square 8vo, 64pp, 30 illustrations. $40 postpaid.
