Art graduate paints Charli xcx for Vanity Fair cover
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A "thrilling" Goldsmiths art graduate has painted pop star Charli xcx for the front cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
Charli 2 (2025). Picture credit Issy Wood and Vanity Fair
Artist Issy Wood, who studied BA Fine Art & History of Art, was named by the publication as the “first and only pick to make art out of Charli”, as it brought back its iconic art edition for the first time in nearly 20 years for its November 2025 issue.
In its Behind the issue feature, the US magazine recognised Issy as an “equally thrilling London-based painter (and musician herself)” as it commissioned her to paint the Brat star for a limited-edition cover. The oil on velvet work is titled Charli 2 (2025).
Wood has risen to prominence painting the quotidian elements that punctuate the day-to-day IRL and scrolling milieu of someone like Charli: leather car interiors, puffy jackets, homeware accoutrements, jewellery, pets, and other elements that orbit the Brat universe.
Vanity Fair's Behind the issue feature on Issy Wood.
Rising star Wood graduated in 2015, with a major early career exhibition at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in 2019. She is currently the subject of a show at the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin.