Interview with: George Rowbottom   

October 2025
 

Welcome George, first tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career.
Do you remember the first artwork that stirred something inside you?
I was born in North Wales, educated in the North of England and grew up in London. I went to, what was then referred to as ‘Art College’ for five years graduating with a 1st. Class Honours BA in Fine Art (Painting).

I enjoyed, what turned out to be, a remarkable creative career. My original ambition was a career in ‘comedy’ which I did successfully for some years. I also had an animation studio in London, painted murals for Elton John, created movie posters for Bond movies and designed album sleeves for Monty Python. And once, aged 22, was Father Christmas at a large UK department store. In 2002 I migrated to Queensland, Australia. To my complete surprise I started painting pictures again. It’s been an adventure which all started around age 8 when I’d lie-face-down on the oor and draw imaginary cars and monsters. So, really the career chose me!

 

Can you take us through the evolution of an artwork, from that first spark of inspiration to the finished piece?

I guess I’m lucky in that an idea for a new painting will come to me. I don’t have any anxiety about ‘inspiration.’ I never paint the same thing twice,. All my paintings are entirely different yet because of my subject matter and style they’re clearly ‘George Rowbottom’ paintings. My work is predominantly figurative and realistic but it’s my own version of realism. I use photo reference, sometimes my own photography or drawings but generally it’s a hotchpotch of things that ignite my imagination - characters and scenarios with which I can create my own story. And it’s a story that is, hopefully, unorthodox, unconventional and surprising. I have to be challenged by whatever I choose to paint. I plan in detail and use Photoshop to assemble the individual elements I’m using and arrange everything within the parameters of the canvas. Then I use the local print service and get A3 photo-prints, tracing paper etc. to transfer outline guides onto the canvas. Easy! But I have no idea where my ideas spring from. Like I said I’m lucky, they just do!

 

How important is it for viewers to understand the intended message of your work? Does ambiguity add value, or do you seek clarity in your expression?

Message! What message? I endeavor to create work that is unusual and idiosyncratic yet remains engaging. So, ambiguity is important to me. Painted landscapes, seascapes, bowls of fruit, portraits usually possess clarity of expression. There is no hidden agenda nor pretence. The assumption is that the work is truthful. The exception in my work is that if I use a landscape as a setting then what happens in that landscape will be unexpected, unpredictable. It’s ambiguous and, hopefully, quirky, quixotic and unique. I am not beguiled by abstract art or expressionism, where the message is all about whatever the viewer chooses to see, interpret and take from it. Abstract art is fundamentally ‘mark making’ with paint. It can be striking but it ain’t Caravaggio Neither, sadly for that matter, is my stuff. And the intended message? I’d be the last to know!

Do academic institutions still play a vital role in shaping artists today, or has self-taught creativity disrupted this tradition?

I spent five years in UK government-funded academic institutions. At the time they were known as ‘Art Colleges’. The ones I attended were not rooted in academia. They were inspirational and allowed and encouraged students to flourish and fly! And I did.

For me it was an unbridled opportunity to self-challenge. I went on to have a creative career filled with momentum. I could draw, paint, design, sculpt years before computers and all the allied software-enabling tools and programs. Now the world has AI, CGI and digital-stratagems for any and every creative outcome. So, let’s get real no one can teach you to draw or be creative, But if you have ability and an institution provides the facilities then harness those talents and master the existing creative platforms and unleash your imagination. Persistence and self-belief. But if you lack imagination - tough!

 

What are you working on at the moment?

I have just finished my latest work. The varnish isn’t dry yet. I use acrylic paints, it’s been that way for me since I was commissioned to paint murals. They dry quickly and murals are big projects so acrylic has always been my go-to paint. My latest is actually not a big canvas, just 61cm wide by 51cm high. The setting is a fairground, a rather old-fashioned version with carousel rides. It’s early evening the sky is cloudless but still blue and all the lights are on and as it’s been raining, reflect and glimmer on the foreground surface. The title came to me instantly - ‘Blind Date.’ As you’d imagine with that as the title there are two characters. A young male and female. I haven’t portrayed them as humans but instead I’ve used male and female fashion-glamour dolls. They’re 21st. century versions of Barbie and Ken dolls. Each exquisitely made plastic bodies, rooted hair, jointed limbs and perfect faces (very expensive and highly collectable). It’s a realistic, figurative painting where I control the background atmosphere and facial expressions, wardrobe and demeanor of the characters. The result? It’s everything I wanted it to be, beguiling, oddball, warm yet edgy!

 

We are at the end of this short interview, would you like to add something about your artistic research?
How did you nd the collaboration with our gallery?
I simply paint pictures. I never refer to myself as an artist. I leave that to others. I do know that making art (in whatever mode) and making a living or financial gain from the practice is a mountain most fail to climb. My whole career has been about creating stuff, solving creative problems. I was paid to do it, clients relied on me. I know little about the ‘Fine art world’ and I’m certainly no entrepreneur. I believe there are many charlatans. Florence Contemporary is transparently not one of them!