British artist, writer and composer born 10 June 1961. Was one of a notable group including Damien Hirst and Marcus Harvey taught art at Allerton Grange High School in Leeds by David Wood and Anne Green.

In 1980 he enrolled in an Arts Foundation Course at Jacob Kramer College Leeds where notable teachers included Gary Barker and Patrick Oliver. In 1981 he continued his studies at Leeds Polytechnic under the tutelage of artists Jack Chesterman and Phil Redford before moving to London in 1985 to continue Postgraduate studies at Chelsea College of Art where his tutors were Tim Mara, Chris Plowman, Peter Dalgliesh and Jeff Edwards.

After completing his studies in London he returned to Leeds to reassess and refine his painting technique and develop a philosophical approach to art making influenced by Carl Jung whose writings he had encountered in London. At that time he had also been drawn to the perennial philosophy of Aldos Huxley and the writings of Blake, Klee and Kandinsky. At this time he also developed a lifelong interest in Esoteric philosophy and the Neo Platonic tradition. Between 1986 and 1989 Wood studied the techniques of Victorian landscape painting and, influenced by this, developed a more literal approach to his work. In 1989 he had the first of four successful solo shows with the Sue Williams Gallery in Portobello Road, London before moving to The Rebecca Hossack Gallery in 1994 where his 1996 exhibition ‘Beneath the Clouds’ was the apotheosis of his Victorian inspired romanticism. The exhibition was enthusiastically received it marked the end of his interest in that kind of ‘nostalgic figuration’ although Wood has returned cyclically to the mythicised landscape throughout his career.

Throughout 1997/8 Wood dismantled his painting technique in favour of a more intuitive expression which engaged with his poetic instincts for the ‘wisdom of the arbitrary’. Although the landscape remained a constant, it was now imagined, surreal and acted more like a stage set for the lexicon of symbol and character which now populated the previously unpopulated landscapes. Large public shows in Oldham (1987), Harrogate (1999), Leeds, (2011), Nottingham (2012), Halifax (2015). Further shows at The Piccadilly Gallery (2002), Long and Ryle (2005), Goldmark Gallery (2007) (2019) (2022), and Agnews (2008) established his reputation as an independent and original voice in British Art.

Works by Christopher P Wood