Last updated: 28 October 2026
Emma Tod is the London artist and Slade-trained painter who builds blurred, glowing images from layer upon layer of oil glaze, with titles that log the carbon dioxide in the air. Here you will find our take on her work, where to see Emma Tod now, how to buy her paintings and photographs, and her War Child piece.
Our take on Emma Tod
Tod paints the kind of images we scroll straight past. She takes fragments from the internet, television and art history, then builds them up in thin glazes until they glow like a screen. Many titles record the atmospheric carbon dioxide level, in parts per million, on the day she finished the work. The critic Rebecca Geldard calls her paintings “an antidote to the digital experience, giving us back a sense of what we scroll past: time” in a text on the artist’s site.
Her War Child piece, Thermal, is a small oil on wooden panel. A soft haze of ochre, sand and umber fills the panel, darkening to grey at the top right and lower left. Across the middle, ragged white shapes drift on a diagonal, like sunlight breaking through cloud. Nothing is in sharp focus, so the eye keeps trying to settle and never quite can.
She has the CV to back up that quiet surface. In 2023 she was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and she won the Blyth Arts Award at the Contemporary British Painting Prize. Her larger paintings sell through GBS Fine Art, so this is a modest way in to a well-regarded painter.
Emma Tod: the essentials
- Born in 1966, according to GBS Fine Art; lives and works in London.
- Studied painting at Falmouth School of Art from 1985 to 1988, then took an MFA in Fine Art Media at the Slade, UCL, from 2000 to 2002.
- Selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, and has shown at the ICA and in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
- Shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize 2023 and the Contemporary British Painting Prize 2023, where she received the Blyth Arts Award.
- Works across painting, photography and video, drawing on feminist theory, environmental concerns and particle physics, according to her own site.
- A Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at University of the Arts London. Represented by GBS Fine Art, which shows her at fairs including Expo Chicago and Photo London.
Where to see Emma Tod now
- Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The piece is Thermal (2026), oil on wooden panel, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page.
- Coming up: Come Closer (group), Blyth Gallery, Imperial College London, dates to be confirmed, according to her own site.
- IMTwentyOne (group exhibition and benefit auction), IMT Gallery, London, 15 May to 21 June 2026.
- Shy Electron (solo), Coleman Projects, London, 2025, with an essay by Rebecca Geldard on the artist’s site.
- Light the lamp rarely, let the shadow come (solo), IMT Gallery, London, 5 May to 11 June 2023, as reported by Artdaily.
How to buy an Emma Tod painting or photograph
GBS Fine Art sells her paintings and a new series of photographs, with prices on request:
- Colour field series, 2026: archival pigment prints of plants, 58.2 x 49.5 cm (22.9 x 19.5 in), framed, each in an edition of 3, price on request from GBS Fine Art.
- Thermal, 2026: a small oil on wooden panel in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid here).
- Paintings: through GBS Fine Art, price on request.
Emma Tod FAQs
Which gallery represents Emma Tod?
GBS Fine Art, which shows her work at fairs including London Art Fair, Expo Chicago and Photo London.
Why do Emma Tod’s titles include parts per million?
Many record the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere on the day she finished the painting.
Can I buy an Emma Tod print?
Her Colour field photographs (2026) come in editions of 3 through GBS Fine Art, with prices on request.
Has Emma Tod won any prizes?
She received the Blyth Arts Award at the Contemporary British Painting Prize 2023, and was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize the same year.
Where can I see her work in London?
Her War Child piece, Thermal, is on view at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November 2026.
More from CoolCuration
- Ha Chong-Hyun at Lisson review: more slow, surface-led abstract painting.
- British Art Fair review: the Saatchi Gallery fair where GBS Fine Art has shown her work.
- Great Women Artists: a big, useful survey of women artists.
- Best affordable art in the UK: prints and originals under £500.
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Main image: Emma Tod, Thermal, 2026 (detail). © Emma Tod, courtesy War Child. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates, prices, auction results and market figures last checked: 28 October 2026.
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