Ian Heywood trained in fine art (painting) at Maidstone College of Art, later studying social theory, aesthetics and philosophy at Goldsmiths’ College and York University. He taught fine art at Leeds Metropolitan University until becoming Research Fellow in Art at the Lancaster Institute for Creative Arts, Lancaster University. Published works include Social Theories of Art: A Critique, and (with Barry Sandywell) Interpreting Visual Culture: Explorations in the Hermeneutics of the Visual. He has written widely on contemporary art, including essays on Gerhard Richter and Gilles Deleuze, and Francis Bacon, and has recently completed a book on concepts and images of modernity and modern art in the light of ‘reflexive’ social theory. He is also known for work in leisure theory.