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Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

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Lacey Contemporary Gallery presents British Contemporary Painter, Laurence Wood.

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Page 1: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue
Page 2: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

COVER IMAGE: Bangkok Dawn. Elegy for the Quiet

Acrylic on canvas, 122x153cm

8 Clarendon Cross | W11 4APlaceycontemporarygallery.co.uk

Page 3: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

LAURENCE WOOD is a British painter living and working in Kent, London and Hong Kong. He is a

graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, and a Chase Taliani Venice scholar with a successful career in various fields of

the creative arts and higher education spanning over 30 years.

Wood spent two years travelling, living and working in South East Asia and since returning has transformed and developed

his work into a new level of formal simplification, cryptic content, and increased focus on the expressive potential of colour.

Laurence Wood describes his work as:

“The result of some unexplained need to externalise my emotions in a visual way and a childhood love of painting, drawing,

poetry and my dad's self-taught piano playing.”

Using repeating figures, emblematic forms and layers of constructed colour the artist creates a visual poetry, with a collage

of thought provoking gestures. The work contains autobiographical elements, a result of being submerged in a different

culture. There is a constant flow between new cultural experiences and shifting identities.

Once again settling into a new culture, Wood continues to employ cryptic and observational content to engage the viewers

with intrigue and reflection, inviting the viewer to emotionally respond and return to the paintings time and time again.

Page 4: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue
Page 5: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

“I experienced an amazing colour rush in South East Asia that transformed my work” - Laurence Wood

Wood's experiences in South East Asia injected a surge of lush colour and cryptic content into his work,

generating a fresh take on his approach to exploring the content and allegorical imagery in his paintings.

Wood records his observations and ideas with watercolour, and his use of fast-drying acrylic paint for his

larger canvas-based work, is a natural watery choice for him, ideal for working quickly, building up layers

and developing colour intensity. He strives for a balance between emotional impact and intellectual

poetic content.

The paintings include thought-provoking imagery derived from the countries and cultures Wood

experienced. These include perforated Indonesian screens, stars, lotus flowers, carved guardian figures,

tourists, east/west fashion fusion, ubiquitous 'hoodies', architectural references, urban and tropical

scenery, propaganda poster styles, and autobiographical elements.

Alongside these emblematic details, Wood’s paintings have a strong immediate vivid presence through

his breaking down of forms, in favour of expressive colour.

COLOUR  RUSH

Around Us, Amongst Us, Within Us

Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 128x160cm, £6000

Page 6: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

The Meeting

Acrylic on Canvas

152x152cm, 2014

£7500

Page 7: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Watching These People

Acrylic on Canvas

153x122cm, 2014

£6000

"There is something about stepping

out of your local world and local

knowledge to seek the enduring and

everlasting satisfaction we all want.

'Watching These People' explores

this. We are all searching and

watching others whilst trying to

remain hidden and secure behind

our sunglasses"

- Laurence Wood

Page 8: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Forest Guardians I, II & III

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

Each approx 51x39cm, 2014

£1000 each

Page 9: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

When the leaves fall priority should

be given to watching the sun rise

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas

153x122cm, 2014, £6000

Page 10: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

REFLECTION & TRANSLATION

Wood’s paintings are repositories of reflections, recorded images, and shifting emotional responses.

Some paintings explore his sense of 'place'- his immediate environment, while others explore figures and

the thematic opportunities they provide.

“In one sense they are all inspired by living and working within different cultures, reflecting upon and

translating new experiences" - Laurence Wood

Some works clearly display the process of their own manufacture. The viewer can observe the stops and

starts, the passages of underpainting or overpainting, the initial impulse, and the final correction, as the

background, foreground, object and subject, interact and shift position.

The painting's form, content, and subject, can evolve and change dramatically, or can progress in planned

pre-ordained steps. For Wood, the painting process is about resolving these often competing components

in a visually dynamic and colourful way.

Page 11: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Redcoat’s Dream

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas, 90x90cm, 2014

£3500

Music of the Mosques. Rimbun Dahan

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas, 90x90cm, 2014

£3500

Page 12: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

New Flat Painting. Hong Kong

Oil & Acrylic on Canvas

153x122cm

£6000

Page 13: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Bangkok Dawn. Elegy for the quiet

Acrylic on Canvas, 122x153cm

£6000

Page 14: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Gong Hey Fat Choy

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas

121x121cm, 2014

£4500

Page 15: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Arrival

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas

90x90cm, 2014

£3500

Page 16: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

PRINTS

Wood's prints are fully resolved works but often stimulate the content for larger

canvases. The radical simplification he employs in his woodcuts carrying through into the

paintings making them bolder and starker.

Hunting Scene

Limited Edition Woodcut

43x55cm, edition of 6

£500 unframed

Page 17: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

Remix 2013

Limited Edition Giclee & Screen print

Collaboration with Zoran Poposki, edition of 10

£300 unframed

Page 18: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

LAURENCE WOOD  |  CV

Born in Lancashire in 1957

Graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1985

Currently living and working in the UK

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2014 8th Artelaguna Art Prize, Arsenale, Venice, Italy

2013 Translations, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong

2013 Artwalk Extra, Artsbus, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

2010 Deaths and Entrances, St.Mary’s Church, Faversham, Kent, UK

2008 Art Power for Future Hope, Canada Square, London

2007 Oskar Hansen International Symposium, Bergen Arkitekt Skole, Norway

2005 Les Mervielles Du Monde, Museum of Fine Arts, Dunkirk, France

2005 For and From, The Metropole Gallery, Folkestone

2005 Drawing 200, The Drawing Room, Tannery Arts, London

2001 Reispijn-Reislust, Hans Brinker Gallery, Amsterdam

1999 The Vauxhall Gardens, Norwich School of Art

1998 New paintings, Palace Theatre, Watford

1990-96 3-ways, Contemporary British Painting, British Council tour

Africa/Asia

1995 Recent paintings, group show, RCA, London

1994 Paper-based, Imperial College, London

1989 New paintings, Thun, Switzerland

1988 Druce Landscape Competition, Camden arts Centre, London

1988 Royal Overseas League Annual, London

1988 Stormstruck, Petworth House, Sussex

1986 Venice, Royal Festival Hall, London

1986 Hunting Group Art Prizes, London

1985 Recent Paintings, Solomon Gallery, London

1985 Pace-setters Five, City Museum, Peterborough

1985 DH Lawrence Festival Exhibition, Nottingham

1985 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Mall Galleries, London

PUBLIC ARTWORKS/COMMISSIONS

2006 Designs for Cayzer courtyard, Lee’s Court Mansion, Kent

1993 Watford Borough Council, Foyer Painting, Munden Tower Block

1992 Watford Borough Council, Charter Place Shopping Centre Mural

1983 Leicester City Council, various murals

COLLECTIONS

His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, Highgrove House, UK

National Trust Foundation for Art, UK

HSBC Bank HQ, Canary Wharf, London, UK

Watford Borough Council, Watford, UK

Royal College of Art, London, UK

Imperial College, London, UK

Bergen Arkitekt Skole, Norway

Page 19: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue

University for the Creative Arts, Kent, UK

De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Kent Science Park, UK

Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, HK

Numerous private collections

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND FEATURES

1993 Author, Watercolour Masterclass, Harper Collins

1993 Consultant Editor, Artists Wisdomm, Inklink

1989 Consultant Editor, The Challenge of Landscape

Painting, Collins

1987 Consultant Editor/Writer, Advanced Marker Tech-

nique, MacDonald

1987 Consultant Editor/Illustrator, Tonal Values, Vista

1987 Contributing Editor/Illustrator, Encyclopaedia of

Drawing Techniques, Headline

BACK IMAGE: The Meeting

Acrylic on Canvas

152x152cm, 2014

Page 20: Laurence Wood Artist Catalogue