Toby Short

‘Which do you like more London or Athens?’ this is a phrase that most Greeks people used to ask me upon meeting. Partly out of a sense of disbelief that a person from ‘civilized’ place such as the UK could possibly choose to settle as seemingly chaotic as Greece and partly because the answer sought was already known, that an undeniable force of nature exists here in the place and the people.

My work is invested in a spiritual connection to the world and this planet home yet I recognise the need to break-up the perpetuity. I Come originally from the ‘Black country’ in the UK, self-designated birthplace of industry and artifice. My interests concern commonalities of both places, where I was born and grew up, and where I live for approximately half of my life in Athens.

Exploring the nuances of the world using the body as a tool. A variety of working methods constitute my approach with a predilection for tactile response. The interpretations and distortions occurring during this process give rise to idiosyncrasies that betray human nature, which are key to a question of how we are able to visualise and how our physicality inhabits our mind's view.

In Athens I look at an evolution of object-making and apply it to a repeated challen...

Toby Short studied at Camberwell school of Art (London University) under Cornelia Parker and Phyllida Barlow and spent my early years as a sculptor for films such as Stephen Sommers's ‘TheMummy’, ‘James Bond Goldeneye’ produced by Alex Garland. I have participated in works at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens and Athens Biennale parallel projects and my work is in the Ministry of Culture collection Greece.

Participation includes the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens ‘Expanded Ecologies during a time of Emergency’ (2009), ‘Where is the Art?’, ReMapKm parallel projects- Athens Biennial 1 (2007),  ‘No Country for Young Men: Contemporary Greek Art in Times of Crisis’ at Bozar Palais des beaux-arts Brussels (2014).
Recent commissions include ‘Otrera’ the Amazon warrior queen, Hotel Zena, Washington DC (2020) and ‘Industrial Syros’ a trio of large kinetic installations for the Peiraki Centre Syros (2015). Other commissions include ‘critical resonance’ a large stainless steel installation of a ship’s hull for the offices of Liquimar shipping Athens Greece (2001) and interactive kinetic light installation ‘earthnet’ at the Magna Science Adventure centre in Rotherham, Sheffield (2001).