Henry Ward is an artist, writer, and educator living in London.
He works primarily as a painter, but also makes drawings and small sculptures. He is interested in exploring the language of paint by investigating the threshold between abstraction and representation. He maintains three specific sites of practice; his kitchen table, where he makes small objects, his shed, where he paints on paper, and the studio. These three spaces create an ongoing dialogue between different ways of working and different paces.
He was shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize in 2018, 2019 and 2022, and longlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize 2021. He was included in the inaugural “The Football Art Prize” in 2022. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions. The first substantial publication about his work, “Shed Paintings – Henry Ward”, was published in February 2021 by Hato Press and features 101 works on paper and an essay by Ben Street.
He is the Director for Freelands Foundation (www.freelandsfoundation.co.uk), and launched the Freelands Painting Prize in 2020. Previously he was Head of Education at Southbank Centre and worked in a variety of roles at Welling School, a Specialist Visual Arts College, where he led on the school’s specialism. In 2002 he established the alTURNERtive Prize, an annual award celebrating outstanding student practice. In 2011 he founded the biannual arts and education periodical, æ. He is a visiting lecturer at UK art schools including Bath Spa University, University of Brighton, Manchester School of Art, Plymouth College of Art and Wolverhampton School of Art, and a mentor on the Turps Art School Correspondence and off-site courses.
He has written and lectured widely on the arts and education, with a particular focus on teaching as an artistic practice. He was an advisor for Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin from 2018-21 and curated a two day event, “Assembly”, investigating approaches to public engagement in 2018 and a follow up, “Assembly II” in 2021.
In 2023 he undertook a residency at The Albers Foundation, Connecticut.
Contact
email: henryhawksleyward@gmail.com
instagram: henzward
Biography
Born 1971. Lives & works in London
Solo Exhibitions
“Engine Room” m2 Gallery, London 2024
“Medusa & Other Stories” London Art Fair, Kittoe Contemporary, London 2024
“From Woolwich” Oasis, Frinton on Sea 2023
“Baffle” Aleph Contemporary, London 2021
“Abracadabra” AMP Gallery, London, 2018
“Henry Ward” Stark Gallery, London, 2004
“Henry Ward – Paintings and Drawings” North Bank Gallery, London, 1995
Selected Group Exhibitions
“G.R.I.T” Kunstpunkt, Berlin and Drawing Projects UK, Dundee 2024
Wells Contemporary 2024, Wells 2024
“Concrete Abstract” Terrace Gallery, London, 2024
“Knot – Rachael Causer & Henry Ward” Stone Space, London 2024
“Carnevale – Friendly Little Monsters” Vivienne Roberts Projects, London 2023
“Don’t Look Back” Vivienne Roberts Projects, London 2023
“Look Both Ways – Dan Preece & Henry Ward” Kittoe Contemporary, Curious Kudu, London 2023
“Colour, Texture, Substance, No Name” Warbling Collective, Kingsgate Space, London 2023
“A Little Closer” Aleph Contemporary, London, 2023
“Shapeshifters” Irving Contemporary, Oxford, 2023
“Small is Beautiful XL” Flowers Gallery, London, 2022
“Swamp Legends” Terrace Gallery, London, 2022
“The Aesthetics of Enchantment in Abstract Art” Aleph Contemporary, London, 2022
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, touring UK, 2022 – 2023
“on Surface – Perspectives on Painting” Messums London, 2022
Beep Painting Biannual 2022, Elysium Gallery, Swansea 2022
“A Generous Space 2” The New Art Gallery, Walsall 2022
“Roam” Rebecca Gilpin & Henry Ward, Fitzrovia Gallery, London 2022
“The Football Art Prize” Touchstones, Rochdale then touring 2022
“A Generous Space” Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, 2021 – 2022
“Lost in Abstraction 1, 2, 3” Henry Ward & Mark Wright, curated by Alistair Hicks, Aleph Contemporary, London 2021
“Oxlade Soup” co-curated with Karl Bielik and Angela Johnson , Terrace Gallery, London, 2021
“Your Foot in my Face” curated by Dan Howard-Birt, Kingsgate Space, London, 2021
“This Year’s Model Part III” Studio 1.1, London, 2021
“Swimming Backwards” Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2021
“Studio Confetti” curated by Karl Bielik, Terrace Gallery, London, 2021
Drawing Biennial 2021, The Drawing Room, London, 2021
“Without Borders” Elysium Gallery, Swansea then touring to Norway, , USA, Canada, Venice and Japan, 2021 -22
Wells Contemporary 2020, Wells 2020
“Way Out” La Grange Gallery, Cernay-Lès-Reims France 2020
Beep Painting Biannual 2020, Elysium Gallery, Swansea 2020
“Binary” Shift, Cardiff and Terrace Gallery, London, 2020-2022
“This Year’s Model Part II” Studio 1.1 Gallery, London, 2020
“6 Days in December”, curated by Martin Gayford, Thameside Gallery, London 2019
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, touring UK, 2019 – 2020
“A Tapered Teardrop” curated by Karl Bielik, Terrace Gallery, London 2019
“Fully Awake 4.6” Edinburgh, 2019
“Paint” PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2019
“This Year’s Model Part II” Studio 1.1 Gallery, London, 2019
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, touring UK, 2018 – 2019
“This Year’s Model Part I” Studio 1.1 Gallery, London, 2018
Residencies
Stephen Swindells Studios, Burgundy, France 2024
The Albers Foundation, Connecticut USA 2023
Wolverhampton Art School 2019
Collections
Soho House, London
Reviews, Articles & Publications
“Baffle” review AN Magazine https://www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/henry-ward-baffle/
“From Gutter to Gallery” Art Daily 2021 https://artdaily.cc/news/137087/From-gutter-to-gallery–Aleph-Contemporary-exhibits-works-by-Henry-Ward-#.YOwugBNKiYA
Shed Paintings – Henry Ward (including essay by Ben Street) Hato Press
Henry H Ward – Glorious Like Guston https://lonelyocean.art/
“Coronavirus – How artists are depicting the lockdown” Ella Wills, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52296886
“Self help is key for an art world in lockdown” Laura Cumming, The Observer https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/29/self-help-is-key-for-art-world-in-lockdown
“A Tapered Teardrop” Terrace Gallery by Geoff Hands https://fineartruminations.com/
“About Abstraction – an interview with Henry Ward” Chris Francis https://www.artpedagogy.com/about-abstraction-henry-ward.html
Education
Middlesex University, PhD, 2013
Goldsmiths College, PGCE Secondary (Art), 1999
Winchester School of Art, BA Hons (Fine Art), 1993
Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, Foundation Diploma, 1990