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Alex J Wood

http://www.alexjwood.co.uk
info @ alexjwood.co.uk
Born 1988

Education

2012-13 MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London – Merit
2012 Postgraduate Diploma Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, London
2011 BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Greenwich, London
2007 Foundation Diploma, Distinction, West Kent College, UK

Awards

The De Laszlo Foundation Grant, November 2020
Arts Council England ‘COVID-19 Support Grant’ 2020 Recipient
Arts Council England ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ 2019 Recipient
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Canada Grant recipient in 2018, 2017 and 2015
Semi-finalist in The ‘Rome Scholarship’ 2019 Exhibition at The Royal Over-Seas League, London.
Shortlisted for The Zealous Emerge Art Prize 2018
The Elizabeth Greenshields Award Recipient 2018, 2017 and 2015 
Winner of The Picton Art Prize
Selected artist in August 2017 for the International Artists Symposium, Neustadt an der Wienstraße, Germany
Shortlisted for The Henry Moore Plinth Prize June 2015
Commissioned by Penguin Books to create a sculpture for Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road. (Link)
Shortlisted for The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award February 2015
Awarded The Patrick and Kelly Lynch Scholarship in 2013
The PVC CCW (Pro Vice Chancellor, Chelsea Camberwell Wimbledon) 2014 Alumni Bursary Award
2014 UAL Ambassador MA Prep Course Beijing, PRC and Research Residency.
2014 Artist in Residence at Camberwell College of Art, London
April 2013 Artist in Residence at Tokyo Wonder Site in Japan
Shortlisted for Future Map 2013. Winner of Xhibit 2013
Shortlisted for The Clifford Chance Sculpture Award in 2013 & 2014

Collections

The Patrick and Kelly Lynch Collection USA, University of the Arts London Collection, The Collection of The Municipality of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany and various other collections worldwide.

Selected Exhibitions

Press & Publications

July 2019   ‘The Object of Art’ TV Programme, Directed by Melissa Aston-Munslow.
Studio clip link available here.  Full programme link available here.
16 Aug 2017   SWR Aktuell TV, News Report & Ron TV – Künstlersymposium (Link)
12 Aug 2017    Die Rheinpfalz Newspaper, Germany, ‘Celestial works land in the Pfalz’
28 Jun 2017 Air: Visualising the Invisible in British Art 1768-2017, Catalogue by Christiana Payne. 
Sansom and Co. ISBN 191140813522
22 May 2016 ‘Public Sculpture Unveilings: Alex J Wood And Frances Segelman Commissions Revealed’, ArtLyst. (Link)
01 May 2016 ‘An Actual Angel In Islington’, Tabish Khan, Art Critic, Londonist.com (Link)
28 April 2016 ‘STATE/f22’ Magazine Issue 21, Mike van Joel & Anna McNay, Feature page 11. (Link)
28 April 2016 ‘An angel rises in Islington as emerging star artist creates celestial public sculpture’. University of the Arts London News. (Link)
27 April 2016   ‘The Picton Art Prize 2015 – Winning Artist – Alex J Wood’ (Link)
25 February 2016 In conversation with Anna McNay, Deputy Editor of State/f22 Magazine.
11 Feb 2016 ‘Secret Agents And Protests: February’s Most Talked About Art Exhibitions’, Tabish Khan at the Londonist, (http://londonist.com/2016/02/february-s-most-talked-about-art-exhibitions)
18 Jan 2016 ‘Alex J. Wood’s First Solo Exhibition Is A Blast’, ArtLyst, (http://www.artlyst.com/articles/alex-j-woods-first-solo-exhibition-is-a-blast)
15 Jan 2016 ‘Last night’s art show openings – Alex J Wood delights at New Art Projects’, Organ Art Magazine, (https://goo.gl/3iL8Ug)
14 Jan 2016 ‘Lift Off!’ on Artsy – (www.artsy.net/show/new-art-projects-alex-j-wood-lift-off)
Jan 2016 – Issue 19 STATE/f22 Magazine, ‘Featured Artist: Artists of Today’, Page 19, (www.alexjwood.com/2015/12/24/featured-artist-in-state-magazine/)
6 Jan 2016 “Alex J Wood Explores Human Endeavour In First Solo Show” Artlyst, (http://goo.gl/QSSRGH)
8 Dec 2016 Wall Street International: Not Just For Christmas” (www.wsimag.com/art/18688-not-just-for-christmas)
7 May 2015 Artlyst, “Historical Futures – The Temporality Of Materials” (http://goo.gl/0J6rrn)
1 May 2015 Aesthetica Online, ‘Antares Rocket Featured in Historical Futures’ (http://goo.gl/eDlOUa)
May 2015 Aesthetica Magazine, Page 146, “Historical Futures Exhibition”.
Feb 2015 MA Fine Art graduate wins Penguin Little Black Classics competition. Chelsea UAL Website. 27 Feb 2015.    (http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/chelsea/2015/02/27/ma-fine-art-graduate-wins-penguin-little-black-classics-competition/)
Oct 2014 The 24th International Sculpture Conference, New Orleans, USA |  Sally Tiffin Panel Speaker at Artist Residencies: Do They Benefit Sculptors? (Mentioned from 38:44) (Video Link: https://vimeo.com/album/3297718/video/121261121#t=2323s)
Oct 2014 Disinter: Alex J Wood responds to World War One (http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/chelsea/2014/10/15/chelsea-graduate-alex-j-wood-responds-centenary-first-world-war-crypt-gallery/)
August 2014 Edward Lucie Smith, “Our most promising new sculptor…” 27 August 2014.
April 2014 Chinese Views Photographic journal with hand drawn illustrations
January 2014 AN Magazine Review by D. Minton. (http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/4243197)
Nov 2013 SITE Exhibition Catalogue, Camberwell Press, London
Nov 2013 Featured Artist on ArtLyst.com email update and homepage. (http://tinyurl.com/p5f8c2y)
September 2013   Avenir Magazine Review. (http://avenirmagazine.com/art/chelsea-college-of-art-ma-show)
July 2013  JAWS Magazine, Summer Issue, “Resonation and Sound in Noh” (http://issuu.com/jawsjournal/docs/final_2520file-for_2520website-00/66)
June 2013   Down The Dori. UAL Exhibition Catalogue
June 2013   Guardian UAL Website, “Why study an MA in fine art?”. (http://tinyurl.com/knubcjd)
April 2013 Tokyo Two catalogue, in conjunction with UAL and Tokyo Wonder Site
April 2013   Featured in the print edition of ‘Art in England’ Magazine.

Essay by Michael Petry, Artist and Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art London 

Alex Wood might be the unholy reincarnation of Heath Robinson, for he sets his wild imagination and crazy obsession with flight into the heaviest of artistic materials: BRONZE.

A silvered paper zeppelin crashes into a bronze tower in R101 (sadly the original British R101 crashed on its maiden flight in 1930 killing almost everyone on board), a bronze hot air balloon cannot take off and lift its wicker basket in We Have lift-off! While in a new work Fly Me to the Moon a rather wrecked 1950’s version of what a rocket should be, looks like it could never lift off either. A larger work that deal with flight or the lack of it Taking Off, looks like it came out of someone’s father-in-law’s garden shed. It is made from what appears to be found timber and bicycle wheels but also has bronze elements just to add a bit more visual and historical weight. A silver model of Concorde is stuck in a mass of bronze in Mach 2, neither the model or the original are going nowhere and his Ferris Wheel is wonderfully mad, a work his spiritual grandfather would have been proud of – ceramic drinking cups are attached to a motorized bicycle wheel and a mouse could easily topple the complex structure.

It is the heady joy of these objects that brings a smile to the face of even the dourest viewer. That so many of his works are translated into such a staid material (bronze) makes the viewer realize how considered, how constructed, how sophisticated they are. For those unfamiliar with the process, bronze casting is a labor of love and the significant word is labor. These works at first look thrown together, jokey, but on inspection we see they are much more complex and they have been hard fought struggles to come into being and that makes the smile grow even a bit wider.

Michael Petry 2014

‘Celestial’ by Alex Wood is a sculpture where at first you don’t know what to expect.  My initial thoughts of the venue comprising a complex of office spaces albeit it very pleasant might limit the imagination. This was certainly not the case with ‘Celestial’ which literally causes the spirits to soar.

I particularly admire the organic quality which is akin to a crumpled Autumn leaf in delicacy but has the fluidity the beautiful bronze patina offers as it rises from the plinth skywards. It works so well in the space because of the relative nearness of the buildings which acts as a backdrop but in observing ‘Celestial’ the eye is drawn along and up into the sky above: perfect.

I would think the office workers nearby benefit greatly from munching on their sandwiches within sight of this lovely uplifting work as well as the public passing through. No doubt visitors to the offices are taken aback by the grace and energy ‘Celestial’ exudes. The flowers have grown around its base and the passages of the day simply caress and shape its colours rather like watching clouds flow across a mountain range.

Elizabeth Grant BA (Hons), MSc
Creative Intelligence Consultant & Trustee Director at The Foundation for Essex Arts Ltd

R101, Card zeppelin and bronze mooring mast, Private Collection

We Have Lift Off!, Bronze, Private Collection

Taking Off

Fly Me to the Moon, Bronze, UAL Collection London

‘Mach 2′, Concorde and Bronze

Celestial, Bronze, 2016

The Towering Crane, Bronze, 2016

ISS, Bronze, 2014

Luna Buggy, Bronze, 2016

‘Slick’, Bronze and 1:200 card model ‘Titanic’, 170W x 180H x 60D CM. Photo by Nick Wood

Suspension