Born in 1955, Gerard has not followed a conventional artist career. After graduating from Art College he spent some 25 years in London advertising agencies, culminating in the role of Creative Director at one of the largest, Leo Burnett. In 2001 under his Chairmanship the London agency was the most creatively awarded advertising office in the World.
Up until then Gerard had been painting as a serious hobby, with work accepted at the Mall Galleries and the Royal Watercolour Society. But his growing determination to paint full time was finally realised in 2002. He left advertising and London to join his family in North Norfolk, where he built a studio. |
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Years of experimentation and exploration followed until in 2005 he held his first solo show at Grapevine Gallery, in Norwich. The response was an instant sell-out.
The following year he held his first London solo exhibition, in Cork Street, a show which travelled to York Minster. Since then he has had six more one man shows, including ‘Mediaeval’, a celebration of church architecture in East Anglia, and ‘Marshscape’, a series of large studies exploring the North Norfolk coast.
In March 2009 he held an exhibition at Bonhams, New Bond Street, entitled ‘Twelve Churches’, a collaboration with The Churches Conservation Trust to celebrate their 40th Anniversary.
In 2010 Gerard Stamp’s life came full circle. Returning once more to Norwich, he was asked to stage the inaugural exhibition celebrating the Royal opening of Norwich Cathedral Hostry, a new Exhibition and Visitor Centre designed by Sir Michael Hopkins and one of the largest Cathedral developments since the rebuilding of Coventry. |
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Gerard had the honour of presenting Her Majesty The Queen with a painting to celebrate the occasion.
There are two important influences on Gerard’s work. One is a lifelong love of architecture, particularly mediaeval architecture, and the other is a deep affinity with the work of the Norwich School of Artists, above all John Sell Cotman whom he has studied so closely that he considers him his posthumous tutor. A passion for draftsmanship and drawing underpins all his work. He is taciturn about his paintings, preferring the images to speak for themselves, and will instead quote John Constable: “Painting is but another word for feeling.” |
