Jonas Wood and Alex Katz: Works on View in China

Jonas Wood (b.1977) draws and paints the world around him. The ceramic vessels, done by his wife, Shio Kusaka, often appear in his work. Next month the couple will have a joint exhibit at the Ryosokuin Temple in Kyoto, Japan. 

Wood was born and raised in Boston, Kusaka (b. 1972) was born in Morioka, Japan and moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s. The couple met at the University of Washington in Seattle. They settled in Los Angeles, where they are raising their children and continuing their successful careers in the art world.

Their works will be on exhibit at the Ryosokuin Temple from November 12 through December 10, 2025.

Jonas Wood is also sharing the spotlight with Alex Katz (b.1927) in a group show, currently on view in Hangzhou, China. The show, curated by the team at By Art Matters, brings together the works done by artists in the 21st century.

360* : Why We Paint?  examines what it calls, “the effects of ‘glocalisation’—the intertwining of global and local influences” on visual medium.

The exhibit, which will rotate works and look at several aspects of contemporary works, will travel to Prato, Italy in 2026.

Alex Katz has been painting his bold and beautiful works since the 1950s. Katz was born in Brooklyn and has lived and worked in Manhattan for all of his adult life.

Katz turned 98 this summer. He has had much well-deserved recognition in the last few years - a retrospective at The Whitney in 2023 and the National Medal of Arts in 2024.

Here's a look back at Alex Katz working in his studio in 1986:

He attended Cooper Union and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in the late 1940s. Katz has always been true to his own style of painting, sculpture and printmaking. His focus has always been on bold figures, landscapes and cityscapes, even while his contemporaries were caught up in Pop Art and other mid-century movements. 

The exhibit of Alex Katz: Four Seasons  has moved from MoMA to SCAI Piramide Gallery in Tokyo and will be on view there until October 18, 2025. 

Katz’s paintings and sketches of dancers and set designs, done when he collaborated with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, are on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. The works are on loan from the Colby Museum of Art and will be on exhibit through January 4, 2026. 

The Colby Museum is showing work by Katz that use repetition of images, a technique that he has often used in his works. Alex Katz: Repetitions will on view through March 29, 2026.

 Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Jonas Wood and Alex Katz available at VFA.