John Riddy was born in 1959 in Northampton and studied painting at Chelsea School of Art between 1980 and 1984. He joined London’s Frith Street Gallery in 1993 and in 1998 was awarded the Rome scholarship as well as a Sargent fellowship to study at the British School at Rome. Riddy’s work has been exhibited widely and is held in major private and public collections including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Tate Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the De Pont Museum, Tilburg; and the Art Institute of Chicago.