Robert O’Rorke trained in London at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Besides creating his own work, he has also worked as a picture conservator and taught art in adult classes and summer schools. When he was a student, he went through a phase of painting large abstracts in order to learn more about form and colour. But he was always more interested in trying to depict the real world and to capture the quality of light. He was also fascinated by the ability of paint to create an illusion of depth. He considers a painting to be a starting point to make an object which contains a balance of opposing forces – light and dark, horizontal and vertical, loose and tight, abstract and figurative, and the work is finished when a balance has been reached between these variables.
He has exhibited in many one man shows and mixed exhibitions. These include the International Art Fair Los Angeles, London Art Fair Islington, International Art Fair Salzburg, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Laing Art Exhibition, Singer and Friedlander Watercolour Competition, New English Art Club, Brighton Art Gallery, Marble Hill House, Aldeburgh Festival and Discerning Eye.
Commissions have included two large oils of Rufford Abbey for the Council Chamber in Nottingham, and he was artist-in-residence at Garsington Opera.
His work is in the collections of Hammersmith Hospital, Paris Blues Restaurants and Lindblad Travel and Nottingham Council. The Bridgeman Art library at www.bridgemanimages.com holds over forty images of his paintings.
His most recent exhibition in London was at the Piers Feetham Gallery, and he exhibited again in the Wylye Valley Art Trail in 2025. He divides his time between studios in London and Fonthill Gifford.