ROB SMALES

Thanks for your interest in my work. 

I was born and brought up in Bournemouth, England. After studying at Oxford University I moved to Germany in 2003 and lived and worked there for 20 years. I have been based with my studio in North London since February 2024. 

My art is always a form of self-portraiture – an honest emotional response to the world as I experience it, trying to tap into my quietest instincts. Advocating human fragility and enjoying colours, marks and forms that bring me alive along the way.

I’m particularly interested in the masks we all wear, and try to capture something of the authentic, uncensored, unashamed person beneath. Hidden in plain sight, as it were. I want to convey inward emotion – and connect with the viewer in ways that are otherwise unsayable, beyond words and somewhere between the lines. 

My art practice is also self-therapy, as I gain greater insight into and acceptance of my genuine self. On my own terms: where vulnerability, sensitivity and imperfection are not signs of weakness, but rather qualities to be celebrated.