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Issy Wood (b. 1993, Durham, North Carolina) is a British-American artist whose oil paintings on velvet and canvas dissect material culture, desire, and the fragility of self-image. Raised in South London, she completed an MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2018. Wood's early breakthrough came with paintings of leather car interiors, luxury handbags, and high-end goods rendered in earthy tones on velvet — images sourced from auction catalogues and lifestyle imagery that she describes as "medieval millennial." Her extreme close-ups of inherited objects and consumer goods create a nightmarish surrealism that interrogates how we assign value to things. Solo exhibitions include TANK Shanghai, Lafayette Anticipations (Paris), and Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul). Her work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Portrait Gallery (London), Dallas Museum of Art, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Hammer Museum, ICA Boston, ICA Miami, Sharjah Art Foundation, and Tate.
Wood's collection list reads like a museum all-star roster — Met, Tate, Fondation Louis Vuitton, National Portrait Gallery, Hammer, two ICAs — at age 32. This level of institutional consensus typically precedes significant market moves. Her velvet paintings are materially distinctive (no one else is painting luxury goods on velvet with this psychological charge), and her "medieval millennial" aesthetic has defined a visual vocabulary that younger artists are already referencing. The gap between her institutional presence and her auction record (~$587K) suggests undervaluation relative to peers.
The oil-on-velvet works are the signature medium — canvas works trade at lower multiples. Her car interior and luxury goods close-ups are the most recognizable compositions. Works from 2018-2021 (the Goldsmiths-to-breakthrough period) carry discovery-era scarcity. The earthy palette and extreme cropping are hallmarks — look for pieces that demonstrate both.
Her gallery representation situation is less clear-cut than blue-chip peers — verify current representation before secondary purchases. The velvet substrate requires careful conservation (humidity, light exposure). Some collectors have flipped early works quickly; provenance from institutional exhibitions adds confidence.