Artists - John Thorley ASEA

Growing up in Devon provided John with an excellent opportunity to indulge his twin passions of riding and art.  On graduating from University, painting and horses were left on the sidelines, and for the next 25 years John worked in the computer industry, first with US manufacturers and latterly as marketing director of a UK softwarehouse. When this was sold John returned to his first love of painting and joined the Society of Equestrian Artists of Great Britain and helped set up the Kent working group where he met and was inspired by leading members of the Society including Roy Miller SEA, AAEA and Richard Barton SEA.

In working with the Society, first as a friend then as an associate member, John was voted onto the committee and asked to help promote the Society's activities generally.  John came up with the idea of 'taking the art to the enthusiast' by holding exhibitions of the best of original equestrian art by the Society's artists at sporting events whether it was a horse race, polo match or show-jumping competition.  This idea eventually led to the first exhibition of equestrian art at Cheltenham racecourse in 2002 and the next year at Newmarket.  Over the ten years since John has organised exhibitions on behalf of the society's artists throughout the UK, Ireland and the US.

Unfortunately, these exhibitions have left little time for John to paint, but on the rare occasions he has managed to put brush to canvas, his style has developed into a highly expressionist one using lots of colour and much influenced by the 'fauvist' school of European painters of the last century.