The vividly graphic print, Bananas, is the second installment in a series of plant identification prints for Printed Matter by the artist. The prints are formatted to the proportions of a classic Polaroid picture, with each featuring a different plant removed from a distinct background and context, like a scientific extraction. Plants have long been a source of fascination for Wood and often appear in his work. This is the artist’s first print depicting the banana tree, which Wood has spent almost a decade exploring through drawings and paintings based on his personal archive of images. A visit to Hawaii further sparked his curiosity into the many different varieties.
Jonas Wood (b. 1977, Boston) makes paintings, drawings, and prints in the genres of portraiture, still life, and landscape. His work reflects a personal approach to subject matter defined by his affinities and experiences. Conjuring depth using flat forms––his process involves collage-based studies in which he sometimes works with photographs to deconstruct and reassemble the images––Wood probes the boundaries between the new and the familiar, integrating emotionally resonant material from everyday life. Jonas Wood has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art (2019); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands (with Shio Kusaka, 2017); Lever House, New York (2013); and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2010). Other solo projects include Still Life with Two Owls (MOCA), a monumental picture covering the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2016- 2018); Shelf Still Life, High Line, New York (2014); and the façade at LAXART, Los Angeles (2014). In 2019, Phaidon published the first monograph dedicated to Wood’s body of work and practice.