Elmo Hood Biography

Born in Southampton in 1989 and a resident of London, England since 2010; Elmo Hood is one of the most promising and exciting painters to arrive on the art scene in recent years. Self-taught, he turned to painting as a coping mechanism after a family bereavement in 2011 - and hasn't looked back.

Working in portraiture, painting free hand and with stencils, Elmo has been able to create a unique and colourful style by combining spray paint and acrylic. Using layer upon layer of graffiti tags, symbols and paint splashes, he creates visually rich portraits and figurative pieces. Elmo also works in oil paint, using pallet knives to create textured work, which is fascinating to touch as well as a view.

His work fuses pop and graffiti art in a way that is consistently turning heads in the art world. His meteoric success is, in part, due to a collage Elmo created out of two playing cards in 2013, which went viral overnight. It gained millions of shares and views as well as a vast celebrity following.

Elmo’s work is exhibited in the UK and internationally. He aims to challenge preconceptions about urban art and pop art within the confines of a gallery but also the public domain. His playing card pieces tell a story of love, heartbreak and betrayal which have humanised playing cards in a way that has never been seen before. In recent years, Elmo has exhibited artwork in the galleries of London, Paris, New York, Ibiza and Munich as well as having his work auctioned off at the Houses of Parliament.