ABOUT

Joseph Carway began his career as an artist working with, and on, the human form: tattooing folk inspired linework figures, blacked out geometries, and animals. Flash sheets filled with dancing figures, crying clowns, and childlike flowers became the inspiration for his fine arts work. That sense of utility found in tattooing also became prevalent in Carway’s first foray into fine arts; wood turned pencil holders, pegboards, keychains, and painted key hooks became expressive objects brought to life in their painted figuration.

From those objects came his intimate series of wide-ranging paintings. Men thrown from horses, elongated portraits and figures, running women, and scenes of flight through curtained windows adorn these plywood panels. The sense of tactility is heightened through the intentional weathering and scuffing these panels endure. Age is present, both in the physicality of these objects, but of their subject matter. Are they forgotten and recovered works from the 1900’s? or were they made yesterday? The beauty in Carway’s paintings emerges from their timeless and permanent presence.

Joseph Carway is an English artist creating functional and flitting paintings, straddling sculpture and fine art. His work is inspired by themes of solemnity and solace, timeless imagery and gentle narratives. Play is at its height within his shaped paintings, as wooden implements often emerge from their surface to use as keyrings, “storage containers,” towel holders, or seemingly for no specific reason. The viewer is left to wonder how they might approach and engage his objects. Carway handles these themes with an obligingly naive sincerity, resulting in small wooden pieces that Illustrate scenes of life, love, religion and a willing exploration of his psyche through scenes and symbols.

Carways rectangular paintings on board have that same sense of play, but this is seen through the linework, gesture, and gaze. His subjects explore the container, rather than break from it – as in the shaped panels. The subject matter is diverse as well, exploring more formal elements, such as weight, line, expression, movement, and action. The intentional weathering and varnishing creates a push and pull, into and from the pictorial plane; still exploring 3 dimensional space within a more traditional container.

Joseph Carway lives in Norwich, England, where he paints from his home in the Norfolk countryside, alongside his work as a tattooist. Carway’s first solo exhibition was in 2025 at Giant Runt, Fort Worth, Texas. His work has entered important collections in the United States and abroad during his emergence as a painter in 2025. Carway will exhibit with Galleri Urbane at Felix Fair, Los Angeles, February 25th - March 1st, 2026.