Influenced by modern abstraction, graphic design, and the street art of his youth, Alex Wood combines layers of oppositional elements within his compositions. Wood was born in Essex and spent his childhood in a suburb of Manchester, where he became involved in the underground music scene in the 1980s and ’90s and developed a subsequent interest in street art and stencil work—now reflected in the urban energy of his paintings. Wood's animated gestures are subdued through his use of a limited color palette. Within multiple translucent layers, he incorporates abstract and found imagery in a mélange of conflicting components. Wood lives and works in Sweden and creates pieces that are continually more abstracted than his original flat graphics. His work was featured in an Oasis video, "Shakermaker".