Geoffrey Key

In May 2013 Key's work was exhibited at Messum's Art Gallery in London. Decscribed as one of the most important living painters, prices for Key's work have risen steadily over the last decade.

In 2011 Key was filmed for a documentary about his work and life by Andy Pacino, a filmmaker and author from Manchester. It had the working title Saltglaze Pot.

Speaking with the Manchester Evening News in October 2009 Key said of his style and manner of working "If I'm doing a still life. I'll set it up, look at it for an hour or so, put it away and then paint it. I find the mind's great at distilling, at breaking it down into essentials. If I'm looking at it I find myself copying every detail, and that isn't necessary. I couldn't sit in a field painting a landscape because I would just feel I'm copying nature when photography can do a better job. Painting it from memory, recreating in on canvas can do quite another job".

In the early 1990s Key visited Hong Kong to exhibit his work in a gallery at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Key has stated that this, his first visit to Asia, was to prove a catalyst in a change in the use of colour in his work. An earlier predominance of muted tones was replaced with a fuller and more vibrant palette, which has remained an enduring aspect of his art. Of the exhibition, Asian Art News said "It is the emotion and pleasure of making art that comes through so clearly in Key's work and makes it sparkle".

In the 1980s the French company Société des Caves de Roquefort also commissioned work. Further successful exhibitions were held in both the United Kingdom and abroad. In 1987, the Manchester Evening News asked Key to write an article on L. S. Lowry, who Key had known well, for a feature marking the centenary of the artist's birth. This article was accompanied by a contemporary drawing of Lowry by Key.

Key has also published several books. G Key - A Book of Drawings and Interview (1975), Daydreams (1981), Clowns (2001), Geoffrey Key Twentieth Century Drawings (2002), Images (2004), Geoffrey Key Paintings (2008), Birds (2010). Signature Book (2011).

Key was elected to membership of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts in 1968 and was a prize winner in 1971. During this time, he was also commissioned to produce artworks by three companies in North West England – Mather & Platt, the former Richard Johnson & Nephew company, and the former Wilson’s Brewery. The Richard Johnson & Nephew pictures are now held by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. Of the Manchester Academy Exhibition in 1979, Jane Clifford, writing in The Daily Telegraph commented "Perhaps the artist that stands out most is Geoffrey Key" "His female forms show a self confidence which is compelling".

In 1958, Key enrolled at the Manchester Regional College of Art. At the college, Key was tutored by sculptor Ted Roocroft and painter Harry Rutherford.

Geoffrey Key (born 13 May 1941 in Rusholme, Manchester, England) is a British painter and sculptor. A number of public art collections have examples of his work.