Clare Woods

Overview

Clare Woods (b.1972) is a British contemporary artist. Her paintings are essentially concerned with sculpting an image in paint, and expressing the strangeness of an object.

Woods’ choice of subject matter is primarily based on an intuitive response to found photographic source material, which in recent years has moved from a fascination with subconscious expressions of anxiety in the landscape to explorations of the figure and human head, often in a metamorphic state of psychological tension. Woods is concerned with the relevance of the art of the past to contemporary practice and significant references in her work have included Paul Nash, Jean Fautrier, Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Paolozzi. Using oil on aluminium she manipulates qualities of flatness and three-dimensionality, twisting foreground and background to create nuanced and surreal imagery that connects the viewer to subconscious states of mind.

Clare Woods was commissioned by the Contemporary Art Society to create a permanent ceramic mural for the London 2012 Olympic Park, and in 2015 15 x 8 meter painting for Aarhus VIA University College, Denmark. Her recent solo exhibitions have included a touring solo exhibition from Oriel Davies (2014-2016), A Tree A Rock A Cloud, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, (2015), Rebecca Chami Gallery, Athens, André Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, (2014), The New Art Centre, Salisbury, Harewood House, Leeds (2013) Southampton City Art Gallery, (2012) The Hepworth Wakefield (2011). Her work is included in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, Arts Council Collection, London, British Council, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain, Goverment Art Collection, The Nation Collection of Wales, Cardiff, Southampton City Art Gallery and Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle.

New artist book by Clare Woods: www.artbookspublishing.co.uk/clare-woods-strange-meetings/

Selected Works

Biography / CV

Born in 1972 in Southampton, United Kingdom.
Lives and works in London, United Kingdom.

EDUCATION

1997-1999 MA Fine Art, Goldsmith’s College, London
1991-1994 BA Fine Art, Bath College of Art, Bath

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

I Blame Nature, Night Gallery, LA, United States

Soft Knock, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2023

Silent Spring, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Between Before and After, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

Print Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom

2022

Between Before and After, Serlachius, Mänttä, Finland

Between These Words, Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong

After Limbo, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

2021

What Difference does it Make, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

The Great Unknown, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2020

Mira Dance, France-Lise McGurn & Clare Woods, Simon Lee Gallery, New York, United States

If Not Now Then When, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2019

Password Revolt, Simon Lee Gallery, New York, United States

Double Think, Simon Lee Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Solo Presentation, The Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, United States

2018

English Habits, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

Reality Dimmed, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Center, Coventry, United Kingdom

Rehumanised, Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong, China

2017

Victim of Geography, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, United Kingdom

2016

Lady Midnight, Pallant House, Stair Commission, Chichester, United Kingdom

Clean Heart, A Landscape Retrospective, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset, United Kingdom

The Sleepers, Pallant House Gallery, exhibition with Des Hughes, Chichester, United Kingdom

The Shouters, Print Commission, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2015

A Rock, A Tree, A Cloud, On Tour, Oriel-y-Parc, Wales, with Graham Sutherland works from The National Collection of Wales 2015-2016, United Kingdom.

A Rock, A Tree, A Cloud, On Tour, Oriel-y-Parc, Wales, with John Piper works from The National Collection of Wales 2015-2016, United Kingdom.

The Drama Triangle, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2014

A Rock, A Tree, A Cloud, A Cloud, a curated show with works from the Davies Collection, The National Collection of Wales, Oriel Davies, Wales, United Kingdom

Hanging, Hollows and Holes, Andre Buchman, Berlin, Germany

Monument, Large Scale Litho Prints, Mascalls Gallery, Kent, United Kingdom

New Works, Rebecca Chami Gallery, Athens, Greece

2013

Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? New Art Centre, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

New Works, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

Eve Rothschild/Clare Woods, New Works, The New Art Centre, Salisbury, United Kingdom

The Seven Eggs, Large Scale Litho Prints, Harewood House, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

2012

The Dark Matter, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

The Bad Neighbour, Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

The Dark Matter, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Carpenter’s Curve & Brick Field, Permanent Art Commission for London 2012 Olympic Park, London, United Kingdom

2011

The Unquiet Head, The Hepworth Wakefeld, Wakefeld, United Kingdom

Evenings Hill, Permanent Art Commission for Hampstead Heath Train Station, London, United Kingdom

2009

Cemetery Bends, Pilar Parra & Romero, Madrid, Spain

Watercolours, André Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2008

The Prospect, The New Art Centre, Salisbury, United Kingdom

Monster Field, Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

The Dancing Mania, André Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2007

Jiri Svetska Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

Art Basel – Art Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland

Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens, Greece

2006

Deaf Man’s House, the Chisenhale Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Pilar Parra Galeria de Arte, Madrid, Spain

2004

Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

2003

The Walls Have Eyes, Eva Rothschild/Clare Woods Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

2002

Cohan, Leslie and Browne, New York, United States

2000

Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

1997

New Paintings, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

Recent Paintings, Habitat, Kings Road, London, United Kingdom

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

Summer in the City, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

The Guts and the Glory, Bolee and Workman, Bruton, United Kingdom

Transparency, Lyndsey Ingram, London, United Kingdom

Bump, Matt Carey-Williams, London, United Kingdom

2023

Collections Hang, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom

Days Like These, Bridget De Leon, Bath

Summer in the City, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

Art Without Borders, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom

Threshold, Simon Lee Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Market Art Fair 2023 – Martin Asbæk Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

Between, Before, and After, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Place I Am, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Dutch Flower Painting, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, United Kingdom

2022

254th Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, United Kingdom

Grey Scale, Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong, China

Shrubs, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

2021

Through the Window, Fernweh Space, Beijing, China

The Rules of Art?, National Museum og Wales, Cardiff, Wales

2020

Mira Dance, France-Lise McGurn & Clare Woods, Simon Lee Gallery, New York, United States

2019

P is for Portrait, The Art Huse, University of Worcester, United Kingdom

2018

History in the Making, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Destroyed by Shadows, The Cornerstone Gallery, Liverpool Hope University, United Kingdom

2017

Summer in the City 12th edition, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

A Green and Pleasant Land: British Landscape and the Imagination: 1970’s to Now, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, United Kingdom

Poster Girls, A Century of Art & Design, London Transport Museum, London, United Kingdom

31 Woman, Breese Little, London, United Kingdom

New Beginnings, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Against Landscape, GSA – The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, United Kingdom

2016

Zeichnung, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London, United Kingdom

Natural States, Three Person Show, Pier Art Centre, Orkney, United Kingdom

The Romantic Thread in British Art, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

2015

Happy Valleys, Three Person show of New works & Print Commission, Gallerie Simpson, Swansea, United Kingdom

Imagining A University, Fifty Years of The University of Warwick Art Collection, United Kingdom

2014

Detached and Timeless: Contemporary Artists inspired by nature and the spirit of place. The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, United Kingdom

Wales Visitation: Poetry Romanticism and Myth in Art, The National Museum Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Leaping the Fence, Hestercombe House, Somerset, United Kingdom

2012/2013

A Fresh Look at Landscape, Oriel y Parc, St Davids, Wales, United Kingdom

Under the Greenwood, picturing British trees, Southampton City Art Gallery, United Kingdom
Creates Aber Communities, Arken Museum, Ishøj, Denmark

Contested Ground, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, United Kingdom

2010/2011

Creating the New Century, Contemporary Art from the Dicke Collection, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, United States

Palm Paintings, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Exhibitionism: The Art of Display, East Wing Collection, Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, London, United Kingdom

Topographies, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, United States

The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art, Tate St Ives, St Ives; touring to: Towner Contemporary Art Museum, Eastbourne, United Kingdom

Tell it to the Trees, Croft Castle (National Trust), Herefordshire, United Kingdom

2008/2009

Monuments with A Horizon Line II, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Superstratum, Galerie Koraalberg, Antwerp, Belgium

M25: Around London, curated by Barry Schwabsky, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

Fringes of Abstraction, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2006/2007

Wood for the Trees and the Falling Leaves, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, United Kingdom

John Moores 24, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Esencias 11, Fundacion Municipal de Cultura, Vallaloid, Spain

2004/2005

Chambres à Part, Sezz Hotel,curated by Laurence Dreyfus, Paris, France

Extreme Abstraction, Albright Knox Art Gallery, New York, NY, United States

Stay Positive, Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy

Painting Identities, La Galeria De Arte Pilar Parra, Madrid, Spain

New British Painting, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

Forest, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton (touring show), United Kingdom

2002/2003

The Walls Have Eyes, Modern Art, London, United Kingdom

Forever Young, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Group Painting Show, Cohan, Leslie and Browne, New York, United States

Painting as a Foreign Language, Centro Britânico Brasileiro, São Paulo, Brazil

Tailsliding, curated by Stephen Hepworth, British Council Touring Show, London Underground, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea

Group Show, curated by Pauline Karpidas & Sadie Coles, The Hydra Workshop, Hydra, Greece Beck’s Futures, ICA London (touring show), United Kingdom

Beyond, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, United Kingdom

2000

What Collectors Are Collecting, Exit Art, New York, United States

And if there were no stories, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London Wooden Heart, Avco, London, United Kingdom

Paintings, Studio Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy

British Art 2 (Painting), Diehl Vorderwuelbecke 1998-1999, Berlin, Germany

Nature/Culture, Gimpel Files / Hales Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Glass Border, Danielle Arnaud, London, United Kingdom

Idle Wild, Approach Gallery, London Cluster Bomb, Morrison Judd, London British Council, Touring Print

Exhibition Printemps, Deutsch Britische Freundschaft 1996/1997, United Kingdom

Habitat Print Project, Habitat (England, France, Germany) Underworld, Australian Council Studios, London, United Kingdom

Fritz & Betty, Exmouth Market, London, United Kingdom

Die Yuppie Scum, Karsten Schubert, London, United Kingdom

1994/1995

Gothic, Lost in Space, London, United Kingdom

White Trash, Lost in Space, London Transmission Report, Curtain Road, London, United Kingdom

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, United States

Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark

Arts Council Collection, London, United Kingdom

British Airways Collection, London, United Kingdom

CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

Colección VAC (Valencia Arte Contemporáneo), Valencia Dakis Joannou Collection Foundation, Athens, Greece

Goverment Art Collection, London, United Kingdom

Honart Museum, Tehran, Iran

The Nation Collection of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom

The Ophiuchus Collection, Geneva, Switzerland

Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle, United Kingdom

Government Art Collection, London, United Kingdom

Harewood House, Leeds, United Kingdom

Mead Gallery, Warwick University, Warwick, United Kingdom

Nuffield College Collection, Oxford, United Kingdom

The British Council Collection, London, United Kingdom

The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, United Kingdom

The Hiscox Collection, London, United Kingdom

The Hive, Worcester, United Kingdom

The National Museum, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, United Kingdom

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

2015

VIA University College, permanent large-scale painting, Denmark

2014

Arken Museum & Edition Copenhagen print commission, Ishøj, Denmark

Transport for London, Art on the River, poster commission, London, United Kingdom

2012

Worcester University, permanent large-scale painting, Worcester, United Kingdom

Contemporary Art Society/ Olympic Delivery Authority, Permanent Commission for London 2012 Olympic Park, London, United Kingdom

Much Wenlock School, wall commission, Shropshire, United Kingdom

2011

Transport for London, permanent commission, Hampstead Heath Train Station, United Kingdom

2010

Transport for London, poster commission, London, United Kingdom

2005/2007

Make Architects, Residential Development, London United Kingdom