Richard Rees
FSAI RIBA
Richard has been painting and drawing for over 40 years in a variety of media including watercolour, oil paints, pen and ink, oil pastel and pencil. He is self-taught as an artist but as an architect has been drawing and illustrating his own work since his University days. In 1984 he became a professional illustrator and Fellow of the Society of Architectural Illustration (SAI)*. In April 2015 he became Chairman of the SAI. In 2018 he was made a member of the Pastel Society.
His architectural illustration work has subsequently been shown at the Royal Academy and internationally. He built a successful Illustration career in Hong Kong in the 1980’s before returning to the UK in 1990 and continued to paint and draw for pleasure occasionally, whilst specialising in large scale masterplan design. As a director of BDP, he was responsible for the masterplan for the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon (including Henman Hill) and the City Centre Masterplan for Liverpool One, which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2012.
Since retiring from architecture in 2012, Richard has started concentrating on developing further as a fine artist. He has diversified his use of materials and developed his enjoyment of oil paint and oil pastels in his custom-built studio in Stockwell. His current series of rooftop views of cities around the world has enabled him to bring together his love and understanding of city forms with his skills as an oil pastel artist – a medium which he employed extensively in his teens. This has proved to be a very popular subject matter and he sold the two thirds of his works at his June 2015 Abbott and Holder solo exhibition. This also led to commissions in the UK and the Middle East for specific city subjects.
He says of this current work; ‘Different societies and traditions develop unique patterns of settlement and I have been interested in these since I started designing masterplans at the beginning of my career. I find the medium of oil pastel is a very expressive one for bringing out the vibrancy of a place and the way that buildings stack, merge and form into townscapes. The sharp, at times semi-abstract, technique helps to demonstrate the way we read a townscape and how attractive and interesting these arrangements are to us’
Exhibitions
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition – 2010
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition – 2011
Anise Gallery, London – Society of Architectural Illustration – May 2013
Pullen’s, Herne Hill – mixed show of three Artists – January 2013
Curwen Gallery, London – Annual Mixed Show – November 2013
Scottish Society of Architect Artists mixed shows, West Kilbride – January 2014 and April 2014 (Invited)
New English Art Club (NEAC) – November 2014
Scottish Society of Architect Artists– January 2015 (Invited)
Pastel Society – February 2015 (two works)
NEAC – 17 June 2015
Solo show at Abbott and Holder – 18 -27 June 2015
Pastel Society – February 2016
Ligne et Couleur, Paris – April 2016
NEAC – 15 June 2016
SocAA – November 2016
Pastel Society _ February 2017
Ligne et Couleur, Paris – October 2017
NEAC – June 2017
SocAA – November 2017
Pastel Society – February 2018
All sizes quoted are image sizes
BEDDINGTON PARK LAKE
Online
Oil paint on board, unframed
420 x 300
£300
BEDDINGTON PARK LAKE / Richard Rees
Oil paint on board, unframed / 420 x 300 / £300ROUSSANAOU, METEORA, GREECE
Online
Oil pastel on paper, framed
470 x 320
SPRUCE TREE HOUSE, MESA VERDE, USA
Online
Oil pastel on paper, unframed
410 x 270
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Online
Oil pastel on paper, unframed
290 x 210
CHATEAU DE CHAMBORD
Online
Oil pastel on paper, unframed
290 x 210
ATLAS MOUNTAINS, MOROCCO
Online
Oil pastel on paper, unframed
570 x 330
Brittany Ferry 2
Plymouth
Pastel on paper, framed
580mm x 320mm