Richard Spare

Richard Spare studied at University for the Creative Arts and Kent Institute of Art & Design. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is printmaking. Work by Richard Spare is recorded in the collections of Victoria and Albert Museum, British Library, London Museum, Museum of Chelmsford and Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery.

• Name — Richard Spare • Birth Name — Richard John Spare • Born — 16 April 1951 • Birthplace — Chelmsford, Essex, England • Education — * • Maidstone College of Art (1971–74), Fred Cuming, Joan Williams * • Thomas Ross & Son (1974–77), Stubbs, Turner, Hogarth, Cruikshank, Rowlandson, Gillray, Landseer, Martin • Occupation — * Artist • Master printmaker • Known for — * Founder of Wellington Studios • Printmaking • drypoint • etching • painting • Website — richardspare.art

Spare attended Maidstone College of Art (1971–74) (now the University for the Creative Arts) where he studied painting under Fred Cuming. On leaving art college, Spare honed his technical skills as a printmaker at Thomas Ross & Son of Putney (1974–77), where he was involved in printing George Stubbs prints, which were sold through the Tate Gallery, and the renovation of fine Turner aquatint plates, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Turner Bi-centenary Exhibition. Spare also printed original plates from masters including Hogarth, Cruikshank, Rowlandson, Gillray, Landseer and mezzotints by Martin.

Since the late 1980s Spare has concentrated solely on his own work, which derives from nature and travel, publishing more than 400 images.

Richard Spare's produces hand-printed and watercolored original dry points characterized by a minimalist style. Color is a crucial element to Spare's work, each being selected to 'vibrate with the velvet black of the drypoint line'. Spare's Wellington Studio garden in Charlton was designed as a rich source of inspiration. Focusing on wildlife it is a 'small haven' for the subjects of many of his works. Wellington Studio is a 'homage' to the art of printmaking, with five restored antique etching presses, housed in a converted Victorian coach house.

• (2001–21) 13 tours of Japan with over 200 Solo exhibitions in cities the length of the archipelago, from Sapporo in Hokkaido in the north to Naha in Okinawa in the south, and including Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima, Matsuyama, Sendai, Sapporo, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kawagoe, and Nara. • (2012) Guest International Artist at the Toorak Village Art Fair, Melbourne 2012. Solo exhibitions in Ballarat and Daylesford, Victoria, Australia. Solo exhibitions in the UK include The Craft Centre and Design Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Trevelyan College, University of Durham and Cambridge Gallery.

• (1973–2024) A frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Spare has exhibited 45 artworks across 31 exhibitions as of the 2024 Academy Summer Show; his work was first selected in 1973. • (1983) Selected by Nicholas Serota for the 1983 Whitechapel Open Exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in the East End of London. Alongside other then emerging artists including Anthony Gormley, Alison Wilding, Axel Hütte, Shirazeh Houshiary, Hannah Collins, Richard Wentworth, Roger Ackling, Vicken Parsons, Eileen Cooper, Richard Wilson, Hughie O'Donoghue, Humphrey Ocean, Jean-Luc Vilmouth, John Keane and Peter Robinson. • (1986) Spare represented the UK at the Ninth British International Print Biennale in 1986 alongside David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Howard Hodgkin, Peter Blake, Frank Auerbach, Patrick Caulfield, Joe Tilson, Tess Jaray, and Norman Ackroyd. The 346 exhibitors included Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Alex Katz, Frank Stella, Jim Dine, R.B. Kitaj and Elaine de Kooning from the United States, Tadanori Yokoo and Tetsuya Noda from Japan and Emilio Vedova from Italy. • (1996–97, 1999–2000) Shortlisted four times for the Hunting Art Prize. • (1997, 2005) Spare has twice been an invited exhibitor at The Discerning Eye ING Art Prize exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Other notable mixed shows with the Royal College of Art, The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Royal West of England Academy, Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Royal Hibernian Academy, Society of Graphic Fine Art, Society of Wildlife Artists and the Royal Society of British Artists and galleries including the Mall Galleries, the Folkestone Metropole Galleries, the Whitechapel Gallery and the Barbican Art Gallery.

Richard Spare's work appears in numerous public and private collections worldwide, including: • Victoria & Albert Museum, London • British Library, London • Leeds Art Gallery • Museum of London • Berlin Central and Regional Library • Federation University Australia, Victoria • Chelmsford Museum • Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery • Aston University, Birmingham • University of Durham