Issy Wood has been selected as the inaugural artist for Artist Focus, a new contemporary program launched by London’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) dedicated to artists who push the boundaries of portraiture. The program will present three solo displays each year, supported by the Gallery’s newly established Contemporary Council.
“Issy Wood: Self-Portraits,” on view October 9, 2026, through February 28, 2027, in the Gallery’s Weston Wing, will bring together 12 self-portraits by the artist, the first and largest presentation devoted to this side of her practice. The exhibition will be free to enter.
A standout of the show promises to be Self Portrait 2 (2021), one of three works already in the NPG's collection—the only national institution to hold a Wood self-portrait. The exhibition will also include 11 paintings drawn from the artist’s own collection, seven of which have never been publicly exhibited. Begun in 2020, Wood’s self-portrait series is marked by tight cropping and framing that alternately reveals and obscures the self. The artist has described the paintings as functioning as substitutes for photographs of herself, with the painted image standing in for the real one.
“The Gallery’s history has always been one of innovation. We were the first portrait gallery in the world when we were founded in 1856 and remain the global centre for the study and appreciation of portraiture today,” said Dr. Flavia Frigeri, the NPG's chief curator, in a statement. “As the home of portraiture, the NPG is best placed to be a venue and a platform for continued experimentation, as we work to inspire future generations by showcasing the work of trailblazing artists.”
Born in North Carolina in 1993, Wood studied at Goldsmiths and the Royal Academy Schools in London and has become known for psychologically charged paintings that draw on personal archives, social media, auction catalogues, and advertising. Her work probes intimacy, desire, and consumer culture, often blurring the line between portraiture, still life, and psychological narrative. Her work is held in the collections of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Britain’s Tate, among others.
Self-portraiture has featured prominently in Wood’s recent institutional exhibitions, including “Fish, Fish, Duck” at Norway’s Kistefos Museum, now on view through October 11, 2026—her first major presentation in the Nordic region. This exhibition pairs large- and small-format self-portraits with her signature paintings of animals and household objects on velvet-stretched canvas. Other recent high-profile projects for Wood include her portrait of Charli XCX for the cover of Vanity Fair’s November 2025 art issue and “Magic Bullet,” a recent solo show at Berlin's Schinkel Pavillon.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/ZIHLOle
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