Steve Bonner was born in Huntingdon, in the United Kingdom in 1951. He is a self-taught figurative artist who, apart from sitting his entrance exam, has never set foot in an art school.  He passed that particular event with the highest marks achieved that year, even though he'd submitted the smallest body of work: a curiosity which drew comment from the examining board even as they accepted him.

It wasn't to be. Returning to his old school prior to the start of the Art School term, Bonner managed to incense his headmaster to such a degree he was escorted from the premises with the stricture never to return. Forced to do something, and do it quickly, he managed to acquire a motorbike, and a job as a junior display artist in a prestigious department store group. He simply never bothered to turn up again at Guildford School of Art. A pattern which, he admits, has followed him throughout much of his life in one way or another

Bonner freelanced as a graphic artist for most of his working life: 'working life' being the way he describes the years he spent doing what he thought he had to do - before he realised he didn't. He spent many of those years producing the hand-painted marketing material for the top night clubs in London and the South East. Whilst he remains proud of the heavily illustrated and cartooned work he produced in those days it became monotonous - although he is the first to admit that the accompanying lifestyle was far from it. From the artistic point of view those years were far from wasted. His graphic background, although not as easily discernable as it once was, is still present in his most recent work, and his unashamed hedonism still shines through delightfully in his unique and highly individual style.

By the late-nineties he had decided to concentrate on fine art: that it was all or nothing. And it's often been next to nothing: life for many professional painters is a mixture of success and struggle, but it is a good life, and one he wouldn't swap for the world.

Whilst Bonners work adorns the walls of many beautiful homes all over the world he cheerfully admits, that to the best of his knowledge, it has never been purchased as an investment by a pension fund or insurance company. "I can't think of a worse fate for any serious painter" he's on record as saying, "I paint my work to be seen, to be enjoyed, to brighten up some-ones home, that's the measure of my success as a artist. I don't spend weeks on a painting to have it moulder somewhere in a crate in the hope that it will increase in value. I'd rather leave that to the many contemporary artists whose work should be mouldering in crates!" He resents the fact that the galleries are often asked if his work will increase in value "Buy it because you love it" he says, "That's the only reason there should ever be for investing in a painting and, as with anything you truly love, it will repay your investment ten fold!"

Steve Bonner is available for commissions for paintings of virtually any subject although his specialities are obviously landscapes, the face and the figure. Just click on the Contact the Artist link below. Sorry, he won't paint portraits of children or animals.

His figure painting website can be found at stevebonner.co.uk