S triking, graceful and iconic, Serpent Vessel (2010) is an archetypal and large-format paperwork by Jonas Wood executed in elegant monochrome. Renowned for his iconic compositions of interiors and potted plants, Wood here illustrates an ornamental pot featuring the Greek-inspired Attic pattern and stylised figurative forms that dance across its central band. Intricately designed, the pot in Serpent Vessel is exemplative of Wood’s ability to imbue typically mundane, everyday objects with a singular energy that is at once playful and whimsical yet imbued with a distinct aura of the profound and the quietly uncanny. His signature flattened leaves emerge dynamically from the vessel, guiding the viewer’s eye upwards.

The artist masterfully manouvers perspective and depth, employing his graphite pencil with a varying intensity to define the layers of formal elements of the work, particularly the structure of his outstretched leaves. The graphic, flat style of Wood’s oeuvre recalls the work of the likes of Picasso, Matisse, and Hockney; the artist has described how: “Matisse, Picasso, Braque Calder, Monet, Vuillard, Bonnard, van Gogh, Stuart Davis, and Hockney have all been very real influences to me. When I was a young child, my family would speak about these artists as examples of greatness in painting. I guess even then I took them seriously because these are the artists I ended up fashioning my studio practice after” (Jonas Wood cited in: Emma Louise Tovey, “Jonas Wood”, Dossier Journal, 3 April 2012, online). While rendered in subtle monochrome, Serpent Vessel is powerfully arresting owing to pure line and form – a superlative embodiment of the artist’s unique visual language featuring his best-known subject matter.

喬 納斯．伍德以描繪室內場景及盆栽植物的標誌性靜物畫而聞名於世，紙本創作的《Serpent Vessel》正是當中的典範。在本作中，伍德再現了一個花瓶，瓶上畫滿了各式各樣的裝飾元素，包括啟發自希臘文化的阿提卡圖案，和一眾有如於瓶身中央舞動的非寫實具像形體。他擅長為平平無常的日常之物，注入玩味十足的張力與怪誕的氣息，本作中設計複雜精緻的花瓶正好體現了他這種才華。他頗具辨識度的葉子從花瓶中冒出，引導觀者的視線往上移。他常在作品中實驗各種視角及深度的呈現，以石墨鉛筆營造出不同深淺度，塑造透視感的錯覺，並勾勒出畫中各種物件的形態，特別是向外延伸的葉子的結構。伍德扁平化的圖像風格令人聯想起畢加索、馬蒂斯和霍克尼等大師的作品。他曾表示：「馬蒂斯、畢加索、布拉克、考爾德、莫內、維亞爾、博納爾、梵谷、斯圖爾特・戴維斯以及霍克尼，他們均為我帶來切實的影響。在我兒時，我的家人會談論起這些藝術家，視他們為偉大繪畫的代表人物。他們更是我在工作室藝術訓練的仿效對象，我一直非常重視他們。」（藝術家引述自艾瑪．路易絲．托維撰，〈喬納斯．伍德〉，《檔案雜誌》（Dossier Journal），2012年4月3日，摘錄自網絡）即將登上拍場的《Serpent Vessel》是一幅優雅迷人的紙本作品，本作不但展現了藝術家那既扁平又同時具有深度感的獨特視覺語彙，更充滿各種引人入勝的元素。