Artist Statement
Anna Woodward practice looks to create fantasy worlds that sit between utopia and dystopia, creating a space that is beyond the realm of the viewer's reality. A space where biomorphic forms grow freely yet there is still evidence of the human made. Woodward works predominantly in oil on linen, working in a series of layers to create intensity, perspective and depth. Being particularly interested in ways of painting and drawn to contemporary artists such as Julie Curtiss and Jane Hayes Greenwood, whose practices sit between the surreal and the skill of the artist. Working in a series of layers that are broken into different painting languages, from the loose washes of oil paint, to highly rendered and voluptuous biomorphic forms that snake their way around the painting, and metallic rods that are engulfed by the biomorphic forms. All of these aspects come together to create an overgrown and wild world. Furthermore, there is an aspect of obsession and repetition in the way that Woodward approaches painting and her subject, evidenced through the repeated motifs and finite detail found within the work.
CV
Education
City and Guilds of London Art School
MA Fine Art
2021 - 2022 - Distinction
City and Guilds of London Art School
BA Fine Art
2017 - 2020 First Class Honours
Exhibitions
2024
Toxic Traits, Solo, Frestonian Gallery, London
2023
Summer Fling, Lupo Gallery, Milan
Flowers and Thorns, Eve Leibe Gallery, Turin, Italy
Jupiter Walk, Sherbet Green, London
A Cloned Realm, Solo, Galeria Duarte Sequeira, Braga, Portugal
Tomorrow, is Tomorrow, is Tomorrow, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London Bridge
2022
Second Expression, The Split Gallery
City and Guilds of London Art School MA Show
City and Guilds of London Art School MA Interim Show
Art on a Postcard, International Women’s Day Auction
I’ll Be Your Mirror, Boisdale of Bishopsgate curated by Mark Connolly
The Reality in Whytch you create, group show alongside Sholto Blissett, Lydia Makin, Alfie Rouy, Salome Wu and Anna Woodward, Studio West
2021
With Love, II, online exhibition by Paint Talk, curated by Mark Connoly
Into the Cosmere, 188 Shoreditch High Street by Jack Trodd
Reframing, Rebuilding at Sevenoaks Kaleiodscope
Hera with The Auction Collective and The Artists Contemporary, Timed and Live, in support of Action Aid UK
The Podcast by The Artists Contemporary at Hackney Downs Studios
Euphoric, Online group show by Josephine Bailey (@procrastinarting)
City and Guilds Of London Art School 2020 Graduates Exhibition at The Oxo Tower Barge House
Chelsea and Kensington Art Week, exhibited at Sheridans, Kings Road
Life on Venus, Landscape, Organic, Human, curated by Tub Hackney x The Auction Collective
Domesticity and The Feminine, curated by Josephine Bailey at https://josephinemaybailey.com
2020
Life on Venus, Landscape, Organic, Human, curated by Tub Hackney x The Auction Collective
Purslane online exhibition, curated by Charley Siddick
With Love, online exhibition by Paint Talk, curated by Mark Connoly
After Hours by Bowes-Parris Gallery curated by Cassandra Bowes and Anna Woodward
Wells Contemporary 2020 Virtual Exhibition
Freelands Painting Prize 2020, Freelands Foundation, Chalk Farm
A Rudimentary Education at Art Lacuna, curated by Cassandra Bowes, Izabel Wocial and Anna Woodward
Goose Summer, Instagram Based Exhibition
Collective Contemporaries, Online, City and Guilds of London Art School
Final, not Over at Unit 1 Gallery, Stacie McCormick
Curated For Covid, Online, Racheal Neale and Beth Rodway
Sevenoaks 20 : Making Ways, cancelled due to Covid 19
2019
Royal College of Art Wandsworth Artist Open House Bursary Exhibition, curated by Caroline Booseley Juxtaposition at Artisan Space
Green and Stone Summer Exhibition
City and Guilds Interim School at Arthill Gallery
2018
City and Guilds Interim School at Downstairs in Mother
Prizes
The Freelands Foundation Painting Prize 2020
Curation
2021
The Podcast and The Exhibition at Hackney Downs Studios
Hera, The Auction Collective and The Artists Contemporary, Timed and Live , in support of Action Aid UK
To the Power of 5, a group online exhibition on The Artists Contemporary with Hannah Wilson, Ellie Wang, Mady Berry, Grace Mattingly and Nadine Faraj
The Artists’ Dozen, an online auction raising money for the uyghur tribunal, co curated with Joséphine Bailey
The Artists Contemporary Atelier - Luke Silva, Amelie Peace, Rose Shuckburgh, Rafa Silvares, Ivan Arlaud, Salomé Wu
Back to Back by Bowes Parris Gallery, curated with Cassandra Bowes
(Rafeala De Ascanio and Nettle Greiller, Sophie Vallance Cantor and Lily German, George Wilson and Daisy Dodd-Noble, Ally Rosenberg and Natalia Gonzales)
The Birthday Party, a online group exhibition on The Artists Contemporary
2020
The Store Room Gallery, Bowes Parris Gallery, curated with Cassandra Bowes
The Artists Contemporary Atelier, artist Luke Silva
After Hours, Bowes- Parris Gallery, curated with Cassandra Bowes
A Rudimentary Education, Wandsworth Graduates 2020, curated with Cassandra Bowes and Izabel Wocial
Elizabeth Pike Solo Show at Artisan Space
2019
Beth Rodway at Artisan Space
Ella Robinson at Artisan Space
Louise Gough at Artisan Space
Joe Grieve at Artisan Space
Wandsworth Artist Open House at Artisan Space, group show including Nigel Turner, Elizabeth Pike, Anna Stevenson, Jules Bleckman and Vicki Kong
Emilio Martin Artist residency at Artisan Space
Juxtaposition at Artisan Space group show including Olivia Clarke, Milli Hunt, Rosie Alderton and Anna Woodward
Myth at Artisan Space
Publications
Little Book of Artisrt’s, 2021 by Kelly Jay
The Freelands Painting Prize 2020, Essay Making Room by Ben Street
The Liberty Book 2019