Issy Wood Biography
Born in 1993, Issy Wood is an emerging contemporary London-based artist known for her painterly synthesis of the past and present in her signature nightmarish aesthetic that alludes to traditions of surrealism. Born in the United States, Wood received her BA in fine art from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015 before completing graduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools in 2018. Drawing from influences that range from auction catalogs and objects inherited from her maternal grandmother of decades past, Wood deems herself a “medieval minnial” in her classic interpretation of modern issues. Her Kafkaesque paintings put people and everyday objects in macabre avatars with an acerbic tone that draws from iniquitous themes such as women confronted by consumerism, the material masquerade of heritage, and life and form that withers away after death.
Wood has participated in highly acclaimed group exhibitions at White Cube, London; Mendes Wood DM, Brussels; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; and Tate, St. Ives. In 2019, Wood revealed a series of tiny oil portraits of legendary comedienne Joan Rivers and an installation of over 1,000 hand-painted floor tiles at the Zabludowicz Collection’s World Receivers exhibition. In the same year, she also took to the stage with her largest solo exhibition to date, titled All The Rage, at the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London. In January 2020, she inaugurated her maiden solo show with JTT, christened daughterproof, in New York. Her practice spanning painting, writing, and music, Wood is also a successful musician who produces under Mark Ronson’s label Zelig Records with several singles and EPs available on streaming services.
