Ronald West is a full-time artist from South Africa.

He was born in the historic town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape in 1974.

Since childhood he showed a keen interest in art and music. He attended the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch during his high school years where he concentrated on sculpture. He later studied Graphic Design, but ended up working as a salesman for a large company for years.

In 2002 everything changed, Ronald awoke from a vivid life altering dream.

A dream so powerful that he decided to follow his passion - which was painting. Ronald resigned from his job immediately - forfeiting the security of a steady income – even though he had a one-month-old son and a wife who was unemployed. He was given an easel, bought brushes and paints and started painting feverishly.

After 3 months he was noticed by a few galleries and invited to exhibit, and he has never looked back.

He has had numerous sold-out solo exhibitions at the Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery in Cape Town, Kotze Art Gallery in Bloemfontein, and the Robertson Art Gallery. And has exhibited at the largest art festivals in South Africa; KKNK and Aardklop Art Festivals.

He has been commissioned by large corporations like, First Rand Bank, Tiger Brands, Wine Corp and Lions International.

His paintings have been featured in many magazines and even on wine labels. Ronald has produced over 1500 original paintings to date, as he always sold out, he stopped exhibiting, and only worked on commission for years. That changed in July 2023 when he was invited to exhibit alongside Inga Dalsegg at her art studio; Dalalåven Atelier in Rindal, Norway. His first exhibition in Europe was sold out in days.

It is easy to see that Ronald is fascinated by women and cats, he says the women in his art are strong and independent like cats, they come and go as they want to.

West uses humour, body language and situations which makes people smile when they look at his art. The scenery often looks like Italy or France, as he is fascinated by the culture, history and landscape there. More recently he has also painted a few pieces inspired by Norwegian landscape and Norse Mythology.

In his own words, “I paint life not as we see it, but as we dream it.” He loves painting dancing, friends, cats, wine and voluptuous women enjoying life. His main influences have been from Amadeo Modigliani, Picasso and Van Gogh, and of course, life as he dreams it.

Ronald currently resides in Cape Town,
but is in the process of moving to Norway