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Roy Wood, a 33-year-old artist from Otley, West Yorkshire, uses acrylic pens to create wonderful and unique drawings that capture the natural world, from butterflies to penguins. His work is refined and colourful. In 2019, toward the end of his MA, Roy’s work featured in an exhibition titled Endgames. His part of the exhibition included works seen in this window display. Roy photographed butterflies in the Natural History Museum, and used these photographs as his references. He explains the choice of butterflies as his subject matter: “I chose butterflies because of my continued interest in the themes of camouflage, and saw them as an ideal form with which to represent this. Also, it allowed me a way in towards researching for my dissertation topic: Branding the Animal.” 

Aside from his butterflies, Roy has procured a range of fascinating, ambitious work. For an interim exhibition he experimented with symmetry and form, taking his bright animal drawings, and distorting them. Collages of photography from films also feature in his work, as well as his own photography, including his visuals under the title Vision Matters for Boots Opticians during National Eye Health Week. His photography under the theme of “Constellation” is equally captivating, for which he references Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, saying it proved “useful in understanding how three and four dimensional space exists.” His photography work was on display at the Leeds City Art Gallery in 2013.   

Roy’s pen work (both biro and acrylic) shows considerable technical talent, and an eye for detail and precision.