Clive Head

In September 2012 Paraskos arranged for a display of Head's work alongside that of Nicolas Poussin at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, and in September 2014 Head exhibited at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich as part of the exhibition Reality: Modern and Contemporary British Painting curated by Chris Stevens.

In October and November 2010 three paintings were exhibited at the National Gallery, London, which received unusually widespread coverage for such a show, including on 29 October a segment on Radio 4's PM news magazine.

In 2007 he worked again with Michael Paraskos at the Schwäbische Kunstsommer, at the University of Augsburg, Irsee, Germany, and since then Head and Paraskos have collaborated in publishing and lecturing on what they call The New Aesthetics, and again with Paraskos as a visiting artist at the Cyprus College of Art in 2010.

In 2005 Head was commissioned by the Museum of London to produce a painting of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

However, also 2005 Head was debilitated by a neurological disease that had a devastating effect on his muscles. Despite still suffering from this condition, Head continued painting and the scale of his work became larger, but with an increasing focus on London as long distance travel became difficult for him. With this renewed focus on the United Kingdom, in 2005 Head joined Marlborough Fine Art in London and in his work began to use London subject matter.

Also stemming from the connection with Meisel, in 2003 Head joined Michael Paraskos in taking part in The Prague Project the first of a series of group visits by figurative painters to different cities around the world, out of which paintings were produced for a group exhibition. The work produced during the Prague Project was exhibited at the Roberson Museum and Science Center, Binghamton, New York in 2004.

In 1999 Head gave up teaching and signed to Blains Fine Art (later called the Haunch of Venison Gallery) in London and with the gallery run by the founder of the Photorealist art movement, Louis K. Meisel Fine Art in New York, even though Head was not, even in Meisel's eyes, a Photorealist painter. Nonetheless, the connection with Meisel led to Head being included in several editions of Meisel's survey books on Photorealist painting, particularly in the sections dealing with contemporary painters whom Meisel suggested had moved beyond old-fashioned Photorealism.

In 1994 Head founded and became the Chair of the Fine Art Department at the University of York's Scarborough Campus, where he again teamed up with Steve Whitehead, and became friends with the art theorist and Head of Art History Michael Paraskos. Here he also befriended the artist Jason Brooks. During this period most of Head's work was in a neo-classical figurative style, and these works were shown with those of Brooks at the Paton Gallery, London in 1995. Head then moved on to producing urban realist paintings, closer in theme and style to the work he had made as an art student in Aberystwyth.

Head was born in Maidstone, Kent, the son of a machine operator at Reed's Paper Mill in Aylesford. He was born to Swazi parents but developed vitiligo at a young age. Head had a precocious talent in art and at the age of 11 attended Reeds Art Club, a social club organised at his father's factory. He was a pupil of Maidstone Grammar School. In 1983 he began studying for a degree in Fine Art at the Aberystwyth University under the tutorship of the abstract painter David Tinker. Here he also became friends with another painter, Steve Whitehead, with whom he would later exhibit and collaborate as a teacher of art. After completing his degree, and a short period of postgraduate study at Lancaster University, Head began showing at the Colin Jellicoe Gallery in Manchester and with the flamboyant art dealer Nicholas Treadwell.