Born in Warrington in 1968, Rob Hefferan was a true free spirit from the very beginning. Desperate to follow an artistic career he found discouragement round every corner, with the exception of his art teacher who recognised that his gift was a rare and unbridled one. Intent on following his dream, he gained a place at university to study for a degree in illustration, but after a year he began to feel constrained by the limitations of the course and decided to go it alone.
Rob Hefferan spent a challenging year putting together a portfolio, then set out to find work utilising his design skills in order to finance his dream of being an artist.

Rob Hefferan's exceptional versatility as a designer and illustrator won him a number of major contracts, ranging from high profile advertising campaigns to providing the artwork for children's books, and he soon found himself in the gratifying position of making a large amount of money from doing something he really enjoyed. Yet he never allowed his considerable success to deflect him from his original aim of becoming a full time artist, and continued to spend much of his spare time painting. Rob Hefferan is an exceptionally talented figurative artist. His work not only captures the unique character and warmth of each subject, but transcends form to suggest the living, breathing essence of the individual.

His heartfelt response to humanity is woven into every painting, earning him a reputation as one of the country's finest contemporary realists. Rob is always on the look out for new styles and techniques to dissect, and his work grows and changes as he absorbs a broad range of influences. Rob Hefferan's latest figurative pieces are beautifully composed depictions of day to day meetings and conversations.

Each image is a fascinating blend of intricate foreground detail with broader brush strokes used to create an atmospheric back drop. They have been greeted with great acclaim on the fine art market, confirming his position as one of the most exciting rising stars on the contemporary art scene.

“My work is balanced. Each of my pieces show my ability to create an atmospheric backdrop. Brushstroke by brushstroke.” “For me, the pinnacle of figurative realism is to elicit the animating force that resides behind the density and delicacy of human form and structure. I try to recreate the poetry of the skin's tone and structure whilst paying homage to the complicated interaction of muscle, tissue and bone”