George Shaw (Born 1966) was born in Coventry. From 1986 to 1989 he studied Fine Art at Sheffield Polytechnic, and later proceeded to the Royal College of Art in London for his MA – he graduated here in 1998. He has been a fan of the National Gallery all his life. At a young age, and with just a sketchbook, he made regular day trips to Trafalgar Square from his home in Coventry in order to draw from or copy the works done by artists whom he admired and found inspiring. In appreciation for his efforts, his mother bought him an illustrated guide to the National Gallery as a birthday gift – he still uses the guide to date. The artist is noted for his English suburban subject matter and for his naturalistic highly detailed approach. He uses Humbrol enamel paints as his favored medium, which lend his work a unique appearance as they are more commonly used to paint aeroplanes and trains models. In 2011 He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize for The Sly and Unseen Day. Shaw has been working from a studio in the National Gallery since 2014. From there, he’s had unrestricted and swift access to the Gallery, and he’s able to explore the collection at his leisure out of hours, observe the public, draw from the pictures, and find great inspiration in art for his own work. Framed George Shaw art is a common sight in many galleries around the world. He has exhibited at National Gallery, London, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, VOID, Derry, Northern Ireland, Wilkinson Gallery, London, Galerie Hussenot, Paris, Kunstverein Freiburg, Breisgau, Germany, Clough Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis, and Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva, among others.