Collection: Reuben Colley Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Reuben Colley is a British artist born in England in 1976. On departing secondary education, Colley secured a place on the art and Design course at Birmingham’s Bournville Art College, before following this up with a BA in Fine Art  awarded by the University of Wolverhampton. It was within this environment that Colley first conditioned himself to attendance at a studio every day to paint, and so embracing the life of an artist. After successfully graduating, Reuben Colley masterminded a number of small, taster shows in bars and clubs in key districts of both Birmingham and Manchester. Despite witnessing the purchase of his entire back catalogue of compositions originated thus far at these impromptu, almost ‘pop-up’ show cases, Colley still required a regular income to essentially support him as he attempted to make progress as a professional contemporary landscape artist.  In the intervening years since first been taken under Washington Green’s wing, Reuban Colley has succeeded in making quite the name for himself as a practicing artist, and forging a subsequent reputation for the procurement of some mightily impressive pieces.

Reuben Colley, by using skilled brushstrokes depicts beautiful scenes that charm and captivate. Reuben Colley has long been an acclaimed artist. His landscapes and cityscapes seem to reach out to the viewer, as he uses light, shadow, and a careful application of color to create mysterious, beautiful scenes. As Reuben Colley explains, "I am constantly exploring new areas of my own painting to see what creates an atmosphere or a mood for the viewer, to take them past the boundaries of being purely representational, and they become a record of my own experiences and impressions of places." The scenes he paints range from places he has lived or traveled to places in his imagination that provide him with a moment of tranquility. Whether depicting a coastal sunset or Birmingham in the dreary rain, Reuben Colley infuses the scene with unrivaled style and passion.

Reuben Colley creates paintings that while always beautiful, often depict a darker side to cities he paints. Gritty and uncompromising, he manages to capture both the grungy and the glamorous sides of a scene. With flickering light effects in the fog and dusk of his paintings, he brings life to his work with skilled and often minimalist use of color, "all the more powerful in their effect for being so sparingly deployed." As one critic described, "This is what real painting is about. These are not trivial works, offering flashy frisson of a smart gimmick, or a sensation which is over as soon as felt. These are pictures to live with, to enjoy, and endlessly explore.".</p