Finding his early inspiration in the natural world, Toby WRIGHT developed a wide range of subjects along with the study of the old masters in Florence. He developed his career with various galleries from London, to New York and Los Angeles, balancing his personal figurative work and landscapes with various portrait commissions. 

Following his Bachelor of arts degree in illustration from the U.K, he travelled to Florence Italy, where he graduated and taught at The Florence Academy of Art. His positions included director of the drawing program for the sculpture department, and principal instructor in the advanced painting program. He teaches various workshops and occasionally is a guest instructor at all 3 branches of FAA.

Spending as much time painting outdoors as indoors, he paints from life for his landscapes and in the studio for his figurative work. His most recent commission is a historic 13-person group portrait for Monaco’s oceanographic museum. It represents for the first time since 1909, the museum’s counsel of administrators under Prince Albert II of Monaco. 

His love for Nature has lead him to unique places. As an artist aboard the Elysium expedition to the Arctic, Toby WRIGHT painted in the extreme conditions of Svalbard, Greenland, and Iceland. With a passion for working from life, he engages directly with nature; whether snorkelling with Orca and Humpback whales in the Arctic waters of Norway, or drawing underwater with the sea lions in the sea of Cortez. He continues to search and expand his vision of where painting will take him next.

Current positions:

·      Member of the Alpine club, UK.

·      Member of the Explorers club, NYC.

·      Member of “Académie des sciences et des arts de la mer”, France.

·      Ambassador/ Workshop instructor Florence Academy of Art.

Exhibition venues:

·      Gladwell & Patterson, London, U.K.      

·      Ann long fine arts, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.

·      Eleanor Ettinger gallery, New York, U.S.

·      Forbes gallery, New York, U.S.

·      Gallerie Michael, Rodeo drive, Los Angeles, U.S.

·      Grenning gallery, Sag Harbor NY, U.S.

·      Musée Océanographique, Monaco.

·      Richard J. Massey foundation for arts and science, New York, U.S.

·      Solomon gallery, Dublin, Irlande.

·      Immortal works, Goteborg, Sweden.

·      Publication « lessons in classical drawing », 2012 Watson-Gutpill NYC.

·      Art en Capitale 2013, Grand palais, Paris, France.

·      Image de la Russie, ministère de la culture Russe, Moscow, Russia.

Awards:

ARC international salon 2011, 3rd place figurative.

ARC international salon finalist 2018, 2021.

AIAP salon MONACO :

·      Prix commission nationale 2010.

·      Prix du publique 2010.

·      Prix du publique 2012.

“Magazine Pratique des arts”, 5th place, annual competition 2018.

Public collections/ commissions:

·      Ministry of State, MONACO.

·      Pink Ribbon/Centre Hospitalier Psse Grace MONACO.

·      Institut Océanographique de MONACO.

·      Pink Ribbon awards, MONACO.

·      Princess Grace Foundation, MONACO/U.S.

Expedition artist:

·      2015: Artist on « ELYSIUM, Artists for the Arctic »: SPIZTBERG, GREENLAND, ICELAND.

·      2016: Underwater animal observation, orca and humpback whales, Arctic sea, NORWAY.

·      2018: Underwater drawing, wildlife studies, sea of Cortez, MEXICO.

·      2019: Underwater animal observation on Sardine run, SOUTH AFRICA.

·      2019: Underwater drawing, wildlife studies, sea of Cortez, MEXICO.

·      2020-2022: Massif du Mt Blanc, FRANCE/ ITALY.

·      2023: ACE “Antarctic Climate Epic”. ARGENTINA/ CHILE/ ANTARCTICA.