Tom Wood

Born in East Africa, raised in Bradford and currently working in Hong Kong, Tom has paintings held in collections throughout the world. A consummate artist, he is renowned for his portraits (the National Portrait Gallery has four – Prince Charles, Alan Bennett, Sir Robert Winston and Frank Bruno) yet this is only a small part of his output. His use of symbols is rarely explained but often a motif can appear repeatedly but in potentially different guises – for example the image of a house can evoke a sense of domesticity and safety, yet this can also imply the world of subterfuge as in a safe house or an institution such as a prison. Religion can also be implied dependent on the scale one applies such as a church or reliquary. The relevance of the imagery is mostly left to the viewer to provide one’s own interpretation. Tom makes no secret of his passion for and debt to other artists. Elements appear in homage, yet reworked and made his - such as his multiple interpretations of the veiled beauty in Portrait of a Lady by Robert Campin in the National Gallery, London.

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

• 1981 Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield / Piece Hall Art Gallery, Halifax
• 1983 Northern Arts, Newcastle
• 1984 Cartwright Hall, Bradford
• 1989 Agnews, London
• 1990 Wakefield Art Gallery, Wakefield
• 1991 Hart Gallery, Nottingham 1994
• Hart Gallery, London ( 1995, 1997, 1999 ) / Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
• 1997 Dean Clough Contemporary Art Gallery, Halifax / Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield / Schloss Cappenburg, Kreiss Unna
• 1999 Atkinson Gallery, Street, Somerset

Group Exhibitions ( again -just a small selection)

• 1981 Six Artists in Industry, Cartwright Hall, Bradford and tour
• 1983 Gulbenkian Award Winners, Arnolfini, Bristol / Contemporary Printmaking, Air Gallery London / Two Man Show, Paton Gallery, London
• 1984 Look People, National Portrait Gallery, London / British Artists, Dortmund, Germany
• 1985 Critics Choice, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield
• 1986 The Irresistible Object: Still Life 1600-1985, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds / Art at Work, South London Art Gallery, London / Tradition and Innovation in Printmaking Today, Barbican Art Gallery, London
• 1988 Graven Images: Art, Religion and Politics, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston / Object and Image: Aspects of British Art in the 1980s, Stoke Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke- on- Trent / Modern British Artist as Printmaker: The Post War Years, Austin Desmond Gallery, London
• 1990 The Art Machine, McClellan Gallery, Glasgow / Crown Pictorial, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA
• 1992 Contemporary Prints, Marlborough Graphics, London
• 1993 Chicago International Art Exposition / Art L.A., Los Angeles International Art Fair / The Portrait Now, National Portrait Gallery, London / Family and Friends, Norwich Castle Museum
• 1995 Art 95 London Contemporary Art Fair / Europ'art, Geneva / Lineart, Ghent / Recent Aquisitions, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
• 1997 Art Miami 97 / Eigse, Carlow Arts Festival, Invited Artist, Ireland

Awards

• 1981 Artist in Industry Fellowship / Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award
• 1982 Gulbenkian Foundation Printmakers Award
• 1983 Artist in Industry Fellowship
• 1984 Elizabeth Greenshields Second Award
• 1985 Prizewinner John Player Portrait Award
• 1986 Prizewinner Ninth International Print Biennale
• 1987 Public Arts Commission / HRH Prince of Wales Portrait Commission
• 1989 Honorary Fellowship Sheffield Hallam University
• 1991 Royal Society of Arts Art into Architecture Award
• 1993- Skopos Professor of Fine Art Bretton Hall University College of Leeds

Collections (selection)

• Arthur Anderson & Co.
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bradford
• Bradford Art Galleries and Museums
• British Gas plc
• Calderdale Art Galleries and Museums
• Dean Clough Contemporary Art Collection
• HRH Prince of Wales Collection
• Kirklees Art Galleries and Museums
• University of Leeds
• Leeds City Art Gallery
• London Underground
• Norwich Art Gallery and Museum
• Provident Financial Group plc
• Rank Xerox
• Redfearn National Glass
• Sheffield Art Galleries and Museums
• Skopos Ltd
• Wakefield Art Galleries and Museums
• Whitworth Art Gallery
• University of Wales
• Yale Centre for British Art
• Yale University