Born in Manchester in 1968, Rob was a true free spirit from the very beginning. Desperate to follow an artistic career he found discouragement round every corner, with the exception of his art teacher who recognised that his childish drawings of dinosaurs were something rather special! Ignoring the advice of his elders, he gained a place at university to study for a degree in illustration, but after a year he began to feel constrained by the limitations of the course and decided to go it alone. Rob spent a challenging year putting together a portfolio, then set out to find work utilising his design skills in order to finance his dream of being an artist. His exceptional versatility as a designer and illustrator won him a number of major contracts, ranging from high profile advertising campaigns to providing the artwork for children's books, and he soon found himself in the gratifying position of making a large amount of money from doing something he really enjoyed. Yet he never allowed his considerable success to deflect him from his original aim of becoming a full time artist, and continued to spend much of his spare time painting. Rob is always on the look out for new styles and techniques to dissect, and his work grows and changes as he absorbs a broad range of influences. His latest figurative pieces are beautifully composed depictions of day to day meetings and conversations. Each image is a fascinating blend of intricate foreground detail with broader brush strokes used to create an atmospheric back drop. They have been greeted with great acclaim on the fine art market, confirming his position as one of the most exciting rising stars on the contemporary art scene!