Wool's Work@Guggenh. "SELL THE KIDS" ah, NO

THE HARDER YOU LOOK THE HARDER YOU LOOK, one of Christopher Wool's contextual, black/white & grey painters for which he has gain notoriety as one of "the most important Amer. painters of his generation," (Schjeldah, New Yorker) is on view at the Guggenheim in Wool's 1st major retrospective.  His paintings consisting of large scale stencils of witticisms echo today's music & urban sprawl are not aesthetically pleasing.  They do, however, assert a compelling dialogue as you meander. The individual pieces, especially his photos & layered spiraled form paintings begin to piece together to express an aura of abandonment, isolation & power.  Still, I'm not convinced that Wool's work  constitutes a substantive artform that will bear the test of time.  "The harder they come, the harder they fall, one & all." (Marley)