Gerry Baptist RE

Born in India in 1935 of British/Portuguese parents, Baptist’s artistic education began at home; his father a musician, writer and artist, his mother, drawn to nature. Baptist likely gets his insatiable curiosity in life from his bohemian upbringing.

“Our home was just a chaos of music, books and art - it was like living in a wild flower garden where everything was allowed to thrive.”

Later, the family moved to England, where he finished schooling before studying painting and graphics at Walthamstow School of Art and The London College of Printing and Graphic Art, eventually joining an advertising agency as an Art Director. Throughout this time his love of painting continued - after working he often created large scale abstracts well into the night.

His inquiring mind led Baptist to be an early adopter of digital technology, it permitted a new freedom, something he relished. He was drawn to the art of those that forged their own paths, such as Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston and Pablo Picasso. He marries influences from Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and even Graphic Art and Comics into his work. Colour and excitement pour out of his paintings with a cheerful brilliance and perhaps an unconscious link with his early years in India or simply an attraction to the joy and colour he finds around him on a daily basis.