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 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, Colley infuses the scene with unrivalled style and passion.

While always beautiful, Colley’s paintings 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.”