John Rich

Disciplined and thoughtful – from figurative work to highly textured abstraction – John Rich moved from painting ’things’ to exploring the essence of form. His later ’wall-hung reliefs’ evoke biological or geological shapes – or perhaps some kind of ancient artefact.

The artist studied at the Epsom School of Art and then the Slade School of Art. He won a scholarship from the Guildford School of Art to study in Paris, at the Academie Grande Chaumiere and Academie Julien. A contemporary of Peter Blake and David Hockney (John Rich exhibited alongside them) he had critically successful one-man shows at the Rowan and Grabowski galleries in London. Reviews in the Guardian, New Statesman, Observer and others followed.  The Arts Review said ”John Rich is a highly individual artist whose work makes a powerful impression”. He became an artist of some standing, exhibiting with the Young Contemporaries and the London Group. The Times called him “an inventive and determined artist with a line of his own.”