Tim Head (b. 1946) studied with Richard Hamilton and Ian Stephenson at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1965-69) and then with Barry Flanagan at St Martin’s in London (1969-70). In 1968 he spent time in New York working as assistant to Claes Oldenburg and met leading figures in the Conceptual Art movement, including Robert Smithson and Sol Lewitt. Head first came to prominence in the early 1970s with a series of ground-breaking installations at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1972), the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1974). Head employs various artistic mediums such as installations, paintings, photography, and video to delve into concepts of perception and instability, spanning from the minutiae of everyday life to global phenomena.
Solo Exhibitions include How It Is, Wolfson College, Cambridge (2023); Black Light, Glasgow International, The Garment Factory, Glasgow (2018); Beautiful Weapons, Parafin, London (2017); Art in Focus: Tim Head, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, St Mary’s Hospital, London (2017); Fictions, Parafin, London (2014); Modern Art Oxford (2013) and Raw Material, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2010); Arctic Ocean, Camden Lock, London (2002); Kunstverein Freiburg (2006); Kunstverein Heilbronn (2006); Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (2006); Manchester City Art Gallery (1993); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1992); The Tyranny of Reason, ICA, London (1985); British Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice (1980).
Group Exhibitions include Mirror, Mirror, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2024); Red, Green and Yellow, Flat Time House, London (2023); Secret of Lightness: Andrew Pierre Hart, Tim Head, Andrea Heller, Laurence Kavanagh, Aimée Parrott, Parafin, London, UK (2022);Pioneers of Pop, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (2017); The Edge of Printing, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016); Drawing Biennial 2015, The Drawing Room, London (2015); Summer Exhibition (selected by Michael Craig-Martin), Royal Academy of Arts, London (2015); Post Pop: East Meets West, Saatchi Gallery, London (2014); Between Spaces, Centro de Arte Moderna, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2012); The Indiscipline of Painting, Tate St Ives, (2011); Signs of a Struggle: Photography in the Wake of Post Modernism, V&A, London (2011).
Highlights and Collections
Head’s work is in important international collections including Tate, London, Arts Council Collection, London, British Museum, London, and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York. Head has participated in important international group exhibitions including the 8th Paris Biennale, Musee D'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1973), ‘Arte Inglese Oggi’, Palazzo Reale, Milan (1976) and Documenta 6, Kassel (1977). In 1987, Tim Head received the John Moores Painting Prize. Head represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennial in 1980.