A new Triumph for Robert Oxley

Featured art: 'Jubilee' by Robert Oxley.  Limited edition boxed canvas, £850.

A lifetime bond with animals

Robert was a passionate animal lover as a child, and with his art and support of conservation projects, continues his passions today, his latest being the Triumph trilogy. The three pieces are the lion ‘Jubilee’, tiger ‘Eternity’ and gorilla ‘Faith’.

“I wanted to use these iconic species in this collection to portray the family bond, kinship and soulful connection we have with these animals. I believe the titles symbolise primal instincts that we all have within us,” says Robert. Triumph sees him celebrating some of his favourite subjects – “I don’t need an excuse to paint tigers; I could paint them every day!” – and sees the trilogy as helping the viewer to see these magnificent animals as iconic symbols of the natural world we should aim to preserve. Robert says the colour palette was inspired by planet Earth herself when viewed from outer space, with the blues of the seas and the greens of the land mixed with yellow and white.  

He is passionate about conservation, and is involved with several projects, including a hugely-popular recent collaboration with photographer Alfie Bowen, ‘Baikal’, which benefitted The Big Cat Sanctuary. About the animals in Triumph, he says: “Although they do face adverse threats, we can take solace in the fact that through combined efforts these animals are now thriving.” Robert is a hugely positive person who likes to focus on the successes in the world of wildlife conservation, and Triumph illustrates this perfectly.

Oxley at work

Robert has recently moved to a new, bigger studio which enables him to work on even more projects at one time, whilst he listens to rock music and his favourite podcasts. He’s a very spontaneous artist, saying he can paint “straight from the tube”.

His art career began by painting his schoolfriend’s denim jackets with the logos of their favourite heavy metal bands, and Robert’s rock ‘n’ roll ethos can be seen in his current work, with their loose paintwork and free attitude, which make them so popular with his many collectors.

As well as his career as an artist and conservation advocate, Robert takes on many other diverse projects; this month he’ll be planting trees at a local nature reserve, and in March, he’ll be doing a 15k run in Kendall, which he claims he hasn’t trained for!