Robert O’Rorke trained in London at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Royal College of Art where his tutor was Peter Blake. On leaving he taught art in adult education and wrote articles on contemporary art, before retraining as a picture conservator, at the same time continuing to paint, exhibit, and occasionally teach in summer schools.
As a student, he explored different styles and completed his degree painting large abstract paintings to better understand form and colour. But he was always more interested in the challenge of trying to create an illusion of the real world with its feeling of light and space. So, when he graduated, he returned to a more figurative imagery where he has tried to combine the figurative and the abstract, and the work is finished when a satisfactory balance has been reached between these two..
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. 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.