Artist: Jonas Wood
Title: Shelf Still Life
Medium: Lithograph and Screen-print in Colors on Wove Paper
Edition: BAT (bon-a-tirer), aside from the edition of 80
Size: 32" x 26"
Year: 2018
Inscription: Signed in pencil, dated, and annotated "BAT"
Documentation: Includes Gallery Certificate of Authenticity
Jonas Wood's "Shelf Still Life" (2018) is an important print that combines lithography and screen-printing on wove paper. This impression is inscribed "BAT," meaning bon à tirer, which designates the master proof approved by the artist and printer as the final standard for the edition. BAT impressions are exceedingly rare, existing outside the numbered series of 80 and valued for their direct connection to the production process. The sheet is signed and dated in pencil by Wood, and the work is accompanied by a gallery Certificate of Authenticity.
The composition presents an arrangement of household objects, including individually painted vases featuring playful motifs such as dinosaurs and an owl, as well as a bowl brimming with fruit. Heavy black contour lines divide the picture plane into distinct sections, flattening spatial depth and emphasizing surface and pattern. By layering bold blocks of color and intricate decorative motifs, Wood transforms an ordinary domestic scene into a dynamic study of form and design. His still life's merge the graphic clarity of Pop Art with personal memory, creating images that are both recognizable and stylized.
Jonas Wood's "Shelf Still Life" offers a balance of sharp edges and tonal variation. It also demonstrates Jonas Woods' sustained interest in translating everyday interiors into complex visual fields, a theme that recurs throughout his practice. "Shelf Still Life" stands out not only for its rarity as a BAT impression but also as an early and refined example of his approach to still-life subject matter, making it a highly desirable acquisition for collectors.
About Jonas Wood
Jonas Wood (b. 1977) is a contemporary American artist known for his vividly colored, large-scale compositions that merge elements of figuration, still life, landscape, and interior space. Based in Los Angeles, Wood has developed a distinctive style characterized by flat planes of color, compressed perspective, and an emphasis on pattern. His work bridges the traditions of modernist painting with a contemporary sensibility rooted in everyday life, resulting in images that are both accessible and conceptually rigorous.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Wood earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1999 before pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in painting and drawing at the University of Washington, Seattle, which he completed in 2002. After relocating to Los Angeles, Wood quickly established himself within the city's dynamic art scene. His practice evolved through an engagement with photographic sources, including personal snapshots, sports imagery, and reproductions from art history. These source materials are frequently translated into paintings, drawings, and prints, where scale, perspective, and surface are reconsidered through the lens of painting.
A defining feature of Wood's art is the interplay between abstraction and representation. His compositions often depict domestic interiors, potted plants, portraits, and everyday objects, yet the flattening of space and bold use of line and color disrupt conventional realism. In doing so, Wood creates a hybrid pictorial language that situates him within a lineage of modern painters while maintaining a distinctly contemporary voice. His work demonstrates clear affinities with Henri Matisse, David Hockney, and Stuart Davis, yet remains grounded in his own lived experience and cultural references.
Wood's career has been marked by significant solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Dallas Museum of Art (2019), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2019), and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (2010). His work has also been featured in group exhibitions at major venues including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has collaborated with publishers on editions of prints and has extended his practice into ceramics and other media, often in partnership with his wife, the ceramicist Shio Kusaka.
Today, Jonas Wood is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary painters of his generation. His work is held in the permanent collections of leading museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Guggenheim Museum; and the Broad in Los Angeles. Collectors and institutions alike are drawn to his ability to combine personal narrative with a formal investigation of color, shape, and space.
By synthesizing modernist traditions with a personal and distinctly contemporary visual language, Jonas Wood has secured a lasting place in the trajectory of 21st-century painting. His art exemplifies how the familiar—plants, portraits, interiors, and objects—can be transformed into striking images that balance intimacy with universality.
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