About Richard Crawford
I trained as a graphic designer at Hornsey College of Art in the heady days of the 1960s and although I’ve been to many other art schools since then, nothing has fired my imagination as much as being there, then.
The painters who came out of the Royal College in the early 60s including David Hockney, Peter Blake, Peter Phillips, Allen Jones and Derek Boshier caught my eye because they were so bright and witty and also because they forsook the
usual ‘high art’ subjects and reclaimed popular icons like film stars and pin ups in their pictures. Their influence remains one of my main inspirations today.
For many years I taught Art to children and young adults in London schools, an occupation I admit to enjoying very much. When I left teaching in 2013 I pursued a doctorate at Central St Martin’s College of Art and was able to dedicate more time to my own artwork.
The people who have helped me along the way are many, but I must mention Mark Vaux, who taught me about colour at Hornsey and Leonard McComb RA who inspired my lifelong interest in the figure. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my fellow artists at Richmond Road studios in Hackney, who kept my spirits up through many years of struggle with paints and canvas. Thanks all!
The paintings I am doing now are all about the figure, but I still enjoy the abstract effects of colour and shape that made Pop Art such a joy to look at. My paintings are the result of my apprenticeship.
Previous Exhibitions
MA exhibition. City & Guilds of London Art School. Kennington.
2010
Start exhibition, Clarence House. (Prince Charles' house in Pall Mall)
Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery. Mixed exhibition. Highgate.
2012
Ghosts of Gone Birds Onca Gallery, Brighton.
2013
Highgate Contemporary Arts. Mixed exhibition. Highgate.
2016
In England we dream of Gardens. The Mall Gallery, London.
2014
Miscellaneous manufactures at the Ark Gallery, Highgate.
Life drawings. The Ark Gallery. Channing School, Highgate.
2017
You are Material. Central St Martins College, London.
2018
Encountering Central St Martins College. London.
2020
Drawingthefigure at the Peggy Jay Gallery, Burgh House, Hampstead.
2019
Document Central St Martins College. London.
2021
Rewilding Clissold Park. Newington Green Meeting House London.
MA interim exhibition. City & Guilds of London Art School. Kennington.
2008
Gallimaufry Highgate Fine Art Gallery. Highgate.
Space Now Space Gallery. London E8.
1986 - 2008
Open studio shows - annually at Richmond Road studios. Hackney.
2007/8
Channing Art Fair. Highgate.
1995
Collaboration with Art of Change: Awakenings. Tate Gallery Millbank.
1992
Bankside Open exhibition. Bankside Gallery Hopton Stree London.
1990
2 Printmakers Homerton Hospital. Hackney.
1989
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. London.
Critic's Space Air Gallery, London.
1986
The Printmaker's Council exhibition. Royal Festival Hall. London.
1984
Whitechapel Open Exhibition. Whitechapel Art Gallery. London.
Solo exhibition Barn Arts Centre Aberystwyth.
