“Chasing Rainbows”
Richard was brought up in the wild heart of Exmoor and was educated at West Somerset School. He did no further formal education after A-Levels, preferring instead to head for London to “seek his fortune” as a singer /songwriter.
After a time in various bands and with a family on the way it was clear that particular rainbow was never going to come within reach, so in 1990 he enrolled on a summer course in Illustration at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Soon he was accepting commissions and lived on a staple diet of greetings cards and children’s books. He formed a partnership ‘Rory Tyger’ with two other talented artists, eventually adopting the name as his own alias.
Then came successful period in Licensing with a property called Newton’s Law, about a little bear called Newton who is a reject from ‘Furry Fellows Toy Factory’, which was sold in many countries worldwide.
The yearning to become a ’serious’ artist was growing strong and in 2009 Richard joined the Insight School of Art and under the guidance of it's founder, artist Paul Regan, he has gone from strength to strength as a portrait artist. He was an original member of Nlan: North London Artist Network.
Richard lives in North London with Adèle and his two children. When asked by a friend if he was contented he replied “as contented as you can ever be when you’ve spent your life chasing rainbows!”
Richard has won major prizes three years running at the Artsdepot Open Exhibition and he was selected to exhibit at the Cork Street Open Exhibition 2012 [4th - 12th August].
He held his first solo exhibition at The Mill Hill Foundation, starting with a Private View on the 16th October 2014 [see separate page for details].
This was a very interesting event as many of the guests were subjects in the portraits on display! - people had an opportunity to compare the real with the crafted - a spectacle which must surely be very rare!