 Rex Wood studied painting at the South Australian School of Art under Mary Packer Harris (1891–1978), and was soon recognised as a pre-eminent realist in a wide variety of mediums.He was represented in a number of exhibitions alongside such luminaries as Ivor Hele and Hans Heysen.He began acting as art critic for The News in 1934, and his one-man exhibition in 1935 was well received.