Background
He was born in California in 1922.
He was born in California in 1922.
John Wood studied at the Institute of Design in Chicago under the direction of Harry Callahan and Art Sinsabaugh and earned a degree in 1954. During his final year as a student, he taught a course on visual fundamentals. Immediately after graduation he was offered a teaching position at Alfred University where he taught for 35 years until he retired.
In 1943 he volunteered for the Army Air Corps, where he served as a B-17 pilot until 1945. At the time of his death he lived in Baltimore, Maryland, with artist Laurie Snyder. Wood has been exhibited widely, including a 2009 retrospective at the International Center of Photography and two exhibitions at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New New York
Other exhibitions were held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington District of Columbia Metropolitan Museum of Art, New New York
Art Institute of Chicago.
Philadelphia Art Museum, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Los Angeles County Museum of Artist Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Artist
And the George Eastman House, Rochester among others
Although he often raised questions about political, social and environmental issues, he avoided promoting personal solutions or adding narratives to the images. The artist instead preferred to focus on the viewer’s interpretation and the possibility for multiple meanings.
