Jonas Wood, one of contemporary painting’s most distinctive voices, returns with a new chapter in a series he began more than a decade ago. Opening March 12 at Gagosian Los Angeles, just ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, the exhibition marks the gallery’s tenth show of Wood’s work and his first major Los Angeles solo of these tennis court paintings.

Born in Boston in 1977 and based in Los Angeles, Wood began by exploring everyday environments and objects, absorbing lessons from his grandfather’s collection of Warhols and Calders. From vibrant still lifes and plant-filled interiors to graphic depictions of sports, his work flattens perspective, collapses space, and balances diaristic sensibility with rigorous abstraction.

The new series, painted in 2025 and 2026, transforms tennis courts into geometric landscapes. Seen from behind the baseline, each court unfolds like a visual score: lines, shapes, and saturated hues dominate, while players are absent and crowds are hinted at through rhythmic brushwork. Wood treats court surfaces, grass, clay, and hard, as a framework for serial abstraction, integrating nets, signage, court furniture, and broadcast graphics as compositional elements. Nintendo 3 (2025), inspired by a video game he plays with his children, adds a playful twist.

Many works extend beyond the court, collaging elements from Wood’s studio and home, potted plants, architectural textures, light fixtures, and working notes, creating hybrid, almost cinematic compositions. Others reference art history, reinterpreting Roy Lichtenstein’s prints in Paris Olympics with Crying Girl (2025), Dubai with Nude with Blue Hair (2026), and Hamburg Open with Girl (2026), affirming Wood’s dialogue with Pop art.

Together, these paintings show how the geometry of sport becomes a conduit for poetic abstraction, blending daily life, memory, and art historical reflection. A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

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Image: Jonas Wood – Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, 2025, Oil and acrylic on canvas 40 x 42 inches (101.6 x 106.7 cm)
© Jonas Wood / Photo: Marten Elder / Courtesy Gagosian