British artist Allan Wilkie studied Fine Art at Central/St. Martin’s College of Art in London. His paintings have been exhibited with the Royal Institute of Oil painters, the Pastel Society and the Royal Society of British artists, as well as at the Royal West of England Academy, the Holburne Museum in Bath and in commercial art galleries. Allan’s artworks can be found in several private collections around the world.

Allan Wilkie follows the path of figurative drawing and painting. Rather than imitating what is in front of him, he paints what he wants to see and what he wants others to see, so that his paintings are addressed to the mind as well as the eye. He paints genre pictures based on the five senses and the four elements that exhibit people doing ordinary things. The four elements are the sensual symbols through which we feel and experience life through our five senses. These paintings are about the way we interact with water.

Allan Wilkie (October 2025): “I like the aesthetic of the vintage swimming costumes to dress my models and when working with my models, I experiment with poses and lighting to perfect the image and achieve the desired effect in order to convey a feeling. I enjoy open water swimming and I noticed that it seems to be popular with women, who often form their own swimming clubs. The figures in my paintings are not intended to be voyeuristic, the people depicted are sporty and healthy, engaged in an activity that women enjoy doing and I try to make my paintings convey a feeling of strength and joy. The three primary colours; red, blue and yellow and the three primary shapes; the circle, the triangle and the square are often important elements in my painting compositions, and I am aware of how important it is for the formal elements to work on an abstract level and have a life of their own which is independent of the subject matter depicted. Where my artwork refers to well-known old and contemporary masters it borrows their capacity to add beauty to the everyday and to solve the problem of transforming our experiences into art. I aim to give people something to look at, to contemplate and to enjoy.”

Allan Wilkie's paintings are now in display at Red Rag Gallery in Bath.

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