Gagosian to Exhibit Jonas Wood Tennis Court Series in Beverly Hills

Gagosian will present an exhibition of new tennis court paintings by Jonas Wood, opening March 12 in Beverly Hills. The show marks the gallery’s tenth exhibition of Wood’s work and its first staged in Los Angeles. The opening precedes the 98th Academy Awards ceremony.

ART

Wood produced the paintings in 2025 and 2026. Each canvas portrays a match held at a prominent Association of Tennis Professionals, Women’s Tennis Association, or Olympic tournament. Wood renders every court from behind the baseline and depicts the full playing surface in a foreshortened perspective. He omits players and officials. In certain works, he indicates spectators through repeated brushstroke patterns. The series continues a body of work he began in 2011, advancing his engagement with sports imagery while exploring abstraction and Pop art.

The standardized dimensions and varied color schemes of tennis courts support Wood’s serial approach. Each painting balances repetition and variation. He employs a saturated palette to interpret the surfaces of grass, clay, and hard courts. Nets, umpires’ chairs, courtside signage, banner advertisements, and other distinguishing elements appear throughout the works. Some compositions incorporate on-screen graphics that show player names and running scores, reinforcing their basis in televised matches. One exception, Nintendo 3 (2025), draws from a video game the artist plays with his children.

Wood formats each court as a horizontal image within a vertical canvas. In several works, he paints the areas flanking the court as solid black blocks, evoking the experience of watching televised tennis in a darkened room. Other paintings adopt collaged compositions. In these works, he integrates the courts with imagery derived from domestic interiors, his studio, other painting series, and appropriated art.

Wimbledon with Wood Grain (2025) and related works feature painted wood grain patterns. Indian Wells (2025) incorporates a brick wall, while Mexican Open (2025) includes speckled flooring that suggests an interior setting. Melbourne (2025) introduces houseplants. Vienna Open (2025) presents a palm-filled view seen through a window screen that echoes the grid of a tennis net. Torino (2025) includes the studio’s ceiling lights, and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (2025) features sports cars. Shanghai Masters (2025) incorporates the artist’s working notes pinned to a wall. Bball Studio with Tennis Court (2026) depicts a cohesive view of Wood’s studio with a tennis match playing on a television.

These paintings reference the spaces where Wood lives and works and reflect his broader practice, which fuses dynamic abstractions of everyday life with art historical sources. Three canvases expand the series through direct engagement with Roy Lichtenstein. Paris Olympics with Crying Girl (2025), Dubai with Nude with Blue Hair (2026), and Hamburg Open with Girl (2026) reinterpret Lichtenstein’s Crying Girl (1963), Nude with Blue Hair (1994), and Girl (1963). Through these works, Wood acknowledges his affinity with Pop art and recognizes Lichtenstein’s approach to abstraction and the crossover between painting and printmaking.

Gagosian will publish a fully illustrated catalogue to accompany the exhibition.

Jonas Wood
Opening reception: Thursday, March 12, 6-8pm
March 12 – April 25, 2026
456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills