Born in Troon on the west coast of Scotland in 1941 George Rowlett has spent most of his life in London and the changing face of London's urban landscape, and particularly the river Thames, has been a major theme of his art. Characterised by their rich impasto surface his work was first shown at Art Space Gallery over a decade ago and has made welcome appearances in solo and mixed exhibitions ever since.

Throughout the 1980s and '90s Rowlett's dramatic paintings of Rotherhithe documented the regeneration of docklands. More recently, as locations to work from have dried up, the focus has broadened and Greenwich and Westminster have been added to his vivid portraits of life on and around the heartbeat of the city. As John Lessore has commented in a conversation with the artist published in the exhibition catalogue, "…I don't know of any other painter who paints London's river as assiduously as you, and certainly not the way you do. "

Rowlett's fascination with London is complimented by a parallel love of the natural world, and in particular the coastal area of East Kent where he has had a studio for many years. But whether working in London or out in the landscape he paints directly from the subject, often at extraordinary speed, to produce paintings that are brimming with incident and alive to the slightest nuance of light.

George Rowlett trained at Camberwell (1962-65) and the Academy Schools (1965-68) and has work in private and public collections in Germany, South Africa, the U.S.A and the UK including the British Council. To mark the occasion of this exhibition we have published a 24 page catalogue with 12 colour plates and a recorded interview with the painter John Lessore.