Playing Cards
22 works
Elmo Hood There Is a Fine Line Between Genius and Insanity For Sale
Elmo Hood
There Is a Fine Line Between Genius and Insanity, 2026
Mixed Media Playing Card on Wooden Backed Canvas | Signed
12 x 16 In
About this work
Elmo Hood has established a distinctive presence within the contemporary art market through works that interrogate the boundaries between order and chaos, method and madness. Operating at the intersection of street art sensibilities and fine art practice, Hood brings a subversive intelligence to familiar cultural objects, transforming them into vehicles for deeper philosophical inquiry. There Is a Fine Line Between Genius and Insanity exemplifies Hood's characteristic approach to material and meaning. The work employs a mixed media playing card mounted on wooden backed canvas, immediately invoking themes of chance, strategy, and the arbitrary nature of success and failure. The title itself references the oft-quoted observation attributed to various historical figures, suggesting that exceptional creative vision and psychological instability may share uncommon proximity. Hood renders this concept tangible through the playing card motif, an object simultaneously associated with calculated probability and reckless gambling, with royal courts and street corner hustlers. The modest yet assertive dimensions of twelve by sixteen inches demand intimate viewing, drawing the observer into close communion with the surface textures and layered elements that distinguish Hood's mixed media approach. The wooden backed canvas provides structural weight and permanence to what might otherwise appear ephemeral, anchoring the conceptual play in material solidity. This signed work represents an opportunity to acquire a significant example from an artist whose market trajectory continues to ascend. Hood's ability to balance accessibility with intellectual depth positions this piece as both a compelling aesthetic object and a thoughtful meditation on creativity itself. For acquisition inquiries regarding this work by Elmo Hood, please contact Guy Hepner.
$5,160
Edition & Provenance
- Year
- 2026
- Medium
- Mixed Media Playing Card on Wooden Backed Canvas | Signed
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About Elmo Hood
Elmo Hood is a self-taught contemporary artist working at the intersection of pop art and mixed media. Born in 1989 in Southampton, England, he now lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.
Hood's career began in 2013 with a single collage made from two playing cards. The piece went viral, leading to a string of international exhibitions and a growing collector base that has followed his work ever since. Those early card pieces set the template for what would become his signature process: cutting, burning, and reassembling found materials to build emotionally charged compositions.
Today his work fuses pop art sensibility with layered mixed media technique. Playing cards remain central to his practice, their existing color and imagery repurposed into new palettes, while darker tones anchor the outlines and shading of each piece. Kings and queens recur throughout his output, alongside recurring nods to philosophy, religion, and the paranormal, giving the work a mythic, symbol-driven undercurrent beneath its pop surface.
Hood's work has been featured in British GQ, Forbes, Glamour, Wall Street International, and Made in Shoreditch, among other publications. He has exhibited across London, Paris, New York, Miami, Ibiza, Bahrain, and Munich, with pieces auctioned at the Houses of Parliament. His exhibition history includes solo shows such as Down the Rabbit Hole at Westbank Gallery, London, and House of Cards in Miami, alongside group exhibitions in New York and at the Bahrain Art Fair.