Clive Head was born in 1965 in Maidstone, Kent. He studied initially at Maidstone Grammar School and later at the University of Aberystwyth, from which he graduated with a degree in Fine Art. Here he was tutored by David Tinker, an eminent abstract painter working in Wales, whose own work and teaching Head would later be re-inspired by. Upon completion of his degree, and a short period of postgraduate study at Lancaster University, Head began exhibiting his work at Colin Jellicoe Gallery in Manchester and with art dealer Nicholas Treadwell.