Featuring work from Martin Bentham RWA, Christopher Garratt and Robert Organ, this interesting exhibition runs until 6 October in the Art Room, Topsham near Exeter.

Martin Bentham was born in Hampshire in 1961. He studied at Weston¬super¬mare and Exeter College of Art & Design. He lives in the Mendips. Bentham has been exhibiting professionally since 1985; the Royal Academy, London; the Mall Gallery, London and The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. He has won a number of awards; the Daler Rowney Oil Painting Prize; first prize at the Royal Bath & West Art Exhibition and first and second prize in the Viewer’s Choice award at the RWA. He was elected an RWA Academician in 2009.

Christopher Garratt was born in Nottinghamshire in 1944; he studied at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham and Reading University. For many years he lectured at Exeter College of Art & Design and Falmouth School of Art. He served on a number of arts committees including the Arts Council of Great Britain, South West Arts and Television South West. He is artist and co¬writer of the BIFF cartoon strip which ran for 20 years in The Guardian and has illustrated many titles in the "Introducing" series from Icon Books. Since moving to the Isles of Scilly in 2001, he has returned to painting, inspired particularly by the intimate still life pictures of Chardin through to the paintings, notes and writings of Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse.

Robert Organ was born in Somerset in 1933. He studied at the West of England College of Art, Bristol and the Slade School in London where in ‘55 he became a Slade Scholar. He now lives in Devon. He taught for a time at Falmouth School of Art but left in 1970 to combine his painting with work in contemporary architecture. He taught art and architecture in several university departments and those designs, carried through to fruition gained much attention in books and articles. In 1978 he became artist in residence at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. He has exhibited widely and his works are in many public and private collections.

The Art Room is open weekends and Wednesdays, 11am to 5pm.

www.theartroomtopsham.co.uk