Interview with Elmo Hood — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Born 1989 in Southampton, United Kingdom- Elmo Hood is a self taught contemporary artist specialising in abstract and pop art styles.

Elmo’s work first came to notoriety in 2013 when he created a collage out of two playing cards. The piece was a viral hit and secured a number of international exhibitions along with a firm celebrity fan base.

The success of the playing card collages lead on to an experimental period with a brief stint in pop art portraiture before delving deep into expressive and figurative abstraction.

His work is now described as a fuse between abstract and pop. Elmo uses a variety of materials and painting techniques to build structures into the surfaces of his paintings which combined with visceral and raw paint strokes of both contrasted and blended colours take form into familiar shapes of ghosts and phantoms. These creations ooze solemn emotion with a dash of dark humour; The narrative is a clear one of love, loss and reflection inspired by personal losses and tragedy experienced within his life.

Publications to date include British GQ, Forbes, Glamour Magazine, Wall Street International, Oddity mag, Sloane Square Magazine, Neon Magazine, The Daily Echo, Epsom Guardian and Made in Shoreditch Magazine.

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us how you started in the arts? and your first experience in art-making?

My name is Elmo Hood from Southampton, United Kingdom. I am an artist specialising in figurative abstract painting. I guess like most artists I started off when I was very small! I used to really enjoy drawing cartoons and sketching. I would say my first meaningful exposure to the arts was ceramics which I studied at secondary school. I then started to take an interest in art again in 2011 after moving to London where I became involved in mural painting and the street art scene.

How would you describe yourself and your artwork?

Right now I am focussing on solemn imagery contrasted with bright eye popping colour. I focus on the shape of a ghost and then build on it with raw and visceral paint strokes and pallet knife work. Texture and depth are incredibly important to me so I often build my canvas up with a combination of oil, acrylic and mixed media mediums. The ghost is a familiar figurative shape which represents various things to me.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I guess you could say my inspiration comes from my personal demons. I paint to deal with the loss and pain I have experienced in my life and that’s how my work tends to build and take form- around a particular memory or thought. Sometimes I will take inspiration from a particular colour or texture however the majority of the time the inspiration is from raw emotion. I work alone in my studio and feel a lot of energy and excitement from creating artwork; it’s definitely a therapy for me.

What emotions do you hope the viewers experience when looking at your art?

That’s a really hard question to answer; I guess as long as people feel something that’s enough for me. I have seen my work interpreted in many different ways which i find really interesting and rewarding even when the interpretation isn’t quite what a envisioned. Sometimes I will paint a word, sentence or quote on the canvas to direct the viewer but people will come to their own conclusions.

When do you know that an artwork is finished?

At times it can be a very clear cut process and I know exactly when it’s finished. Other times I might continue to work on a piece for over a year on and off before I am happy. Oil paint is one of my favourite mediums and I paint impasto so the curing time can be lengthy.

What has been the most exciting moment in your art career so far?

It’s hard to pick as there have been many however I would say one of the most exciting experiences I have had was when I was asked to be a guest curator for the ING discerning eye exhibition in London. I got to curate a show for the first time and put together art from some of my favourite artists. It was a very rewarding experience for me. Also up there would be having my art used by Mary J Blidge and Maxwell for the set on their world tour.

How long does it take to produce one work?

Depending on the size and medium it could be as quick as a week or as long as a year!

What exciting projects are you working on right now? Can you share some of the future plans for your artwork?

I am still exploring the ghost theme, there’s a lot of ideas i have that I would like to take form in either sculpture or an installation.

Do you have any upcoming events or exhibitions we should know about?

Due to the Covid situation all of my exhibitions and auctions are currently on hold however I do hope to have another solo exhibition in the next 12 months, fingers crossed