Joanne Tod (b.1953) is a renowned Canadian artist acclaimed for her masterful figurative paintings. 

Tod has depicted a wide range of subjects throughout her illustrious career. The human figure, pattern, and interiors have been reoccurring and essential elements of Tod's oeuvre.

However over the last ten years, portraiture has become an increasingly significant part of her output, both high-profile commissions as well as more idiosyncratic self-initiated portraits, such as her recent installation of "head-shots" paintings of the entire Toronto Raptors team.

This untitled work (aka. "Tattooed Embrace") is somewhat of an anomaly in her practice, yet simultaneously shares many characteristics with her best-known creations. While the human faces are absent, and the bodies anonymous, the rendering of intertwined flesh is meticulous and precise, yet demonstrates a certain softness.

This is one of the few erotic or nude images in Tod's oeuvre. While 2020 has been a trying and destabilizing year around the world, for artists such as Joanne Tod, it has been an incredibly fruitful period. For most of the year, Tod has successfully experimented with watercolor. This unforgiving medium has enabled the artist to be more spontaneous without compromising the technical mastery she is known for. 

This untitled work (aka 'Embrace') showcases Tod's delicate, deliberate hand as we see two women (?) in the throes of an erotic embrace. Soft light bathes the bodies' skin with a dreamy, luminous quality enhancing its sensuality. In many of Tod's most cherished artworks (her series of carpet runners comes to mind) the artist's meticulous rendering of the subjects' shape, texture and form become so intriguing that the source material becomes secondary. 

Joanne Tod's works can be found in many public institutions across Canada including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. 

Courtesy of Caviar20