Fred Apps

My art started when he was about eight, copying pictures from The Beano and other comics and childrens encyclopedia. From then on I could think of nothing except to be an artist. There was no art tradition in my family (my dad was a bricklayer) or at my school. I went to Rochester Art College then into advertising then book illustration so I’ve spent most of my life in the commercial side of art. As to why I started my art practice I cannot imagine doing anything else. Brushes, paint, paper, canvas, ink, it’s a world I’ve always loved.

I’ve spent many years in advertising and publishing, illustrating many children’s books . I have had a number of local exhibitions one of which has been running for five years in Plaistow Library and a paid residency at the Expo in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which ran for two years. I have recently completed an illustration commission for a American publisher and I am now working for an Austrian publisher.