Robert Mountjoy was born in Bideford, Devon. UK and attended the local grammar school. He trained in Cheltenham and read for a degree at Bristol University. He took up his first art teaching post in 1972 and subsequently taught art in secondary, tertiary and higher education and worked as a senior examiner. He has kept his art practice alive alongside his career in education but has been painting full time since 2012.
Although a commited abstract artist in the British Modernist tradition he turned to figurative painting following his return to Devon in 1985. At first subjects were drawn from the landscape as he re-engaged with his home county. Subsequently simple forms in beams of strong light provided inspiration for a long series of still life paintings.
In 2020 he returned to abstract painting using motifs extracted from drawings made in Andalucia during September 2019. This was followed by a solo exhibition of paintings developed from drawings made during an expedition to the Arctic edge in 2021. He is currently working on a project exploring urban and commercial waterfronts. Paintings from this series have been shown in the Uk and in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland Luxembourg, since 2024 with the Parcus Gallery.
Robert Mountjoy is a member of the 21 Group of Artists and The Plymouth Society of Artists. He has been a fervant supporter of the South West Academy and was elected to the academy in 2003. He served twelve years as a trustee and three years chair before he was made an Honorary Academician in 2019.
Exhibitions
The Old Bakery Gallery, Cheltenham 1972
Cheltenham Group of Artists Exhibitions 1972 -1984
Royal West of England Academy 1979 - 1984, 2002, 20014, 2015, 2016
The Park Gallery, Cheltenham 1982
Rooksmoor Gallery, Bristol 1983
Delahaye Gallery, Cirencester 1984
Mayflower Gallery, Tavistock 1999
Royal Society of Marine Artists 2005
Mall Galleries, Lynn Painter Stainer Award (shortlisted artists) 2005
The Wharf , Tavistock 1996 and 2016
South West Academy 2000 - 2024 (inc Academicians shows at: RAM Exeter, Phoenix Exetre, Stert’s Art Centre, Delamore Arts, Plymouth University, The Penwith Gallery and The Thelma Hulbert Gallery)
Beaux Arts, Bath 2006 - 2009
Tincleton Gallery, Dorset 2017
Ariel Centre, Totnes 2019
Artizan Gallery, Torquay 2022
Birdwood Gallery, Totnes 2022
Plymouth Theatre Royal 2022/3
Artmill Gallery, Plymouth 2021 -2024
2024
Parcus Gallery, Aistersheim, Austria - February 2024
South West Academy at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, UK - March/April 2024
Parcus Gallery ARTMUC, Munich, Germany, April 2024
21 Group of Artists, Artmill Gallery Plymouth UK - April 2024
Plymouth Society of Artists, Artmill Gallery Plymouth UK -April 2024
SWAc at Delamore Arts, Cornwood, Devon, UK - May 2024
Parcus Gallery, Basel, Switzerland - June 2024
Museum of Art and Science, Milan, Italy, June/July 2024
Beyond Boarders (Prize Winner) Artio Gallery, European Museum of Modern Art, Barcelona, Spain - June 2024
Larroque International Arts Festival, France - July/August 2024
Parcus II Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Grieskirchen, Austria - October/November 2024
Common Ground - Plymouth Society of Artists and St Ives Society of Artists, Norway Square, St Ives UK - October/November 2024
2025
Plymouth Society of Artists - Artmill Gallery Plymouth, UK- January/February 2025
Parcus Gallery - Luxembourg Contemporary Art Fair - The BOX LUXPO, Luxembourg - March 2025
Parcus Gallery -Carousel De Louvre - Paris, France - April 2025
Parcus Gallery -ARTMUC - Munich, Germany - May 2025
21 Group of Artists - Sou Sou West Gallery, Dorset UK- May 2025
Parcus Gallery -Larroque International Arts Festival, France - July 2025
Plymouth Society of Artists - Arts University of Plymouth, UK - August 2025
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK - September 2025
South West Academy, Dartmoor, Neadon, Manaton, Newton Abbot, TQ13 9UY UK - September 2025
Parcus Gallery - 36th Contemporary Art Exhibition, Carousel De Louvre - Paris, France - October 2025
21 Group of Artists - Peirson and Peirson Gallery, Plymouth 27th September - 8th November 2025
Parcus Gallery - Discovery - Frankfurt, Germany - November 2025
2026 (Exhibitions scheduled)
Taylors, Tavistock - Spring 2026
Parcus Gallery - Discovery Art Fair - Cologne, Germany - 23- 26 April 2026
Parcus Gallery - Carousel De Louvre - Paris, France - April 2026
21 Group - Artizan - Torquay - May 2026
Peirson and Peirson Contemporary Shortlist - Plymouth - June 2026
Parcus Gallery - International Contemporary Artists - Zurich, Switzerland - June 2026
Parcus Gallery - Luxbox - Luxembourg - October 2026
Parcus Gallery - Contemporary Art Exhibition, Carousel De Louvre - Paris, France - October 2026
Parcus Gallery - Discovery - Frankfurt, Germany - November 2026
Parcus Gallery - International Contemporary Artists - Brussels Belgium - November 2026
21 Group of Artists - Peirson and Peirson Gallery - October 2026
Awards
Arts Council of Great Britain Award for Painting 1982
Mail Marketing International First Prize (for most outstanding work in a water-based medium) RWA 2002
Elected Academician – South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts 2003
Honarary Academician - South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts 2019
Lynn Painter Stainer Award shortlist 2005
Global Horizons Prize 2023
Artist statement
Robert Mountjoy Contemporary Artist 2026
Robert Mountjoy’s work begins in observational drawing. He believes that only through hard looking and recording can you come to really know a subject. The process of striving to make a truthful representation finds yourself getting under its skin. Through drawing his conscious is on the subject; its form, tone and texture, while his subconscious is absorbing its context.
He takes the quick sketches to the studio where they may be scaled up and reworked with occasional reference to photographs. Again, while he is focused on making a truthful representation, his intuition is in free-fall, meandering through a maze of associations; recalling the encounter with the subject and the sensations evoked. These are unconsciously shuffled, combed through and re-ordered.
A new drawing emerges and with it a deeper understanding of his subject, seeing beyond its physical attributes and coming to sense its being. He now keeps these drawings but they were previously regarded of little consequence - they were a means to an end and routinely discarded once the project was completed. What was of value was what was been learnt in the making of them. But now they are documented and shared as a part of the story.
Each project is entered into without any intended outcome; the drawing process furnishes him with motifs, textures and colours that can be isolated, rearranged and combined. These features become integral to the structure and provide the holding forms onto which he constructs a representation of what has been learnt.
In recent projects he has gravitated towards painting on wooden boards or aluminium panels that are often less than a metre square. He works in acrylic, layering colour and creating texture. Mark making can be seen to be related to his drawings and the quick hand that captured the observed, return in the motifs that build through each composition.
The paintings may appear abstract but he considers them figurative and represents his intense examination of the subject. While leaving some clues as to its identity he strips away all the superfluous and endeavours to portray the essence of the subject in its simplest and purist form; revealing it with minimalist precision.
