Richard Twose is a figurative painter, exploring dramatic narratives through movement and colour. Accompanied by a soft motion blur and expressive body language, Richard describes his visual style as ‘magic realism’, inspired by discussions with his portrait sitters, Greek myths, the history of art, and British folklore.
Richard’s paintings invite the viewer to create their own story within each of his work, leaving the compositions familiar enough to do so. Described as a ‘modern master of the non-finito technique’, his elusive style highlights how we are storytellers by nature. Richard says “We all live by making up stories; we make sense of our lives, our place in the world, through the stories we tell others’’.
Born in Devon, Richard studied 3D design at University of Creative Arts in Farnham and became a jewellery designer after graduating. However, in 2000 he moved on from his career and embraced new challenges as a portrait painter while teaching art & art history in Bristol. He has since been internationally recognised for his work, winning second place in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, chosen by Jonathan Yeo to feature in a CNN Arts Documentary ‘Ones To Watch’, had paintings featured in the Royal Scottish Academy and has been an Artist in Residence at Elisabeth Frink’s studio at Woolland House, Dorset. He has five of his portraits hung in different Oxford colleges and the examination hall.