David Wilkey was born and lives in Bath.

His early work was influenced by the surrealists, in particular Magritte and he went on from there painting realist style paintings based on his own photographs. Nearly always painting in oils, he has also dabbled in acrylics but found oils much easier work with starting with a monotone sketch for tonal values and working this up into a finished painting.

His recent work has involved painting the people of Bath going about their daily business, shopping, talking and their obsession with mobile phones. The interaction between people David finds fascinating and he wants to capture everything that makes up the fabric of everyday life. It also includes the changing face of Bath as in 'Towards Old Southgate' which is no longer there, so in a few short years since, has become an historical document.

This fascination with people occurred when he walked into a gallery once and noticed that the visitors were as interested in observing each other as in the work displayed on the wall. People are what makes life, and life is what he paints.