ARTIST’S CV/EXHIBITIONS
Solo exhibition at Artist's Gallery, Bournemouth. 1993
Solo exhibition at Halcyon Gallery, Pallasades, Birmingham. Approx 1995
Major commission by the Army Air Corps to paint Lynx Helicopters in action near Soest in Germany. The Army Air Corps flew me in a small private plane to Soest. I spent five days with them. They set up the whole scene with their helicopters for me to photograph and paint. Very exciting! Late 1990s
Major commission by the Army Air Corps to paint Lynx and Gazelle Helicopters at Gornji Vakuf, Bosnia shortly after the Bosnian war in 1995. The Army flew me to Split in Croatia where I joined them for a week at their base at Gornji Vakuf. I was flown to various areas affected by the war including the capital city, Sarajevo. Approx 1997.
Mixed exhibition at Halcyon Gallery, International Convention Centre, Birmingham - sold out in four hours. Approx 2000
Mixed exhibition at Native Visions Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Early 2000s
Exhibited with Native Visions Gallery Florida at Safari Club International, Reno Convention Centre, USA. Early 2000s
Major solo exhibition at Halcyon Gallery, International Convention Centre, Birmingham. Approx 2003.
Joint show at a large gallery in Montana, USA. Approx 2008
100% donation of original lion painting to Born Free Foundation raising £4,000 at celebrity auction. Approx 2012
100% donation of two originals to Tusk Trust raising £10,800 in a single evening at celebrity auction. Approx 2014
David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year. Finalist three years.
Painting demonstration and solo exhibition during cruise in South Africa on board Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise ship. Most originals sold out. 2017
Solo exhibition. Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives, Cornwall. 2018
Painting demonstration and solo exhibition during cruise in South Africa on board Cunard Queen Elizabeth cruise ship. Most originals sold out. 2019
Exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Galleries, London. 2021
Tony has exhibited at London’s Mall Galleries with the Society of Wildlife Artists, the Society of Marine Artists and the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year exhibitions.
Solo exhibition, Rock, Cornwall. May 2022
Exhibition of Wildlife Art, Chester. 2022
Solo exhibition, Rock, Cornwall. October 2022
Tony Forrest has been painting wildlife for 30 years and has seen many fascinating and beautiful places. He has had many oil paintings published by major UK art publishers and has exhibited in some of the most prestigious galleries in the country, including Harrods in London. One of his early exhibitions of wildlife with a much-celebrated gallery was an immediate sell-out. His work has hung in the Mall Galleries in London and galleries in Florida and Montana in America. Tony has also donated paintings to Tusk, Born Free Foundation and Africat in Namibia raising thousands of pounds for conservation projects.
Most of you have never met me but that doesn’t matter! I have no idea how many wildlife paintings I have produced during my career but I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me and my cause during the past 30 years.
During my working life I have met many great people in Africa. My first ever safari was to Tsavo in Kenya. I remember flying over Africa and looking out of the window of the plane with the kind of excitement a child might feel if they were flying to the North Pole to see Father Christmas! It was all a new experience and I stayed at a lodge near Voi in Tsavo West. Since then, I have been to Africa too many times to recall but all of them have brought something different and added to my wildlife art experiences.
Conservation is never out of my mind these days and I have a real fear for the future of our animal friends who have as much right to a peaceful life as we do. I hope Governments one day open their eyes and see what is happening to the natural world as a result of poaching.