Issy Wood

Painter Issy Wood turns subjects like Joan Rivers or an ornate silver tureen into dusty, sad relics of fading luxury. Her works are populated by an absurdist menagerie of subject matter that seems desultory, but is distinctly the artist’s own. Wood uses auction catalogues and a collection of items bequeathed to her by her maternal grandmother as source materials in some of her work, which includes painting and installation, as well as writing. Her searingly sardonic tone comes through in her titles, like Kettle (By which I mean you die in a fire) (2018). Wood, who calls herself a “medieval millennial” in reference to her classical style, envisions a dark world in which women have been battered by consumerism, heritage is turned into a transaction, and humor is as trenchant as a pair of gold teeth. Wood is featured in The Artsy Vanguard 2020.