Growing up in Birmingham, amongst the urban surroundings of high rises, factories and motorways, travelling across the city each day to school in Handsworth, where I was taught and mentored by my then teacher, artist James Byrne. Cycling along miles of canals beneath Spaghetti Junction and into Digbeth. 
It was only natural to look in these places for the subject of my paintings.
Under the guidance of Mr Byrne, I was introduced to many different genres of representational painting and this has always been my focus, a conventional approach to painting, maybe from my 'common-sense' upbringing, but I'm not a conceptual artist.

I went on to study at Bournville Art College and completed a degree in Fine Art at Wolverhampton University, and whilst others digressed into other creative disciplines, I always knew that my interest was painting. After a career spanning twenty-five years, it is still about putting brush to canvas.


Remnant Exhibition 2017 at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 

Awards

2002 Best Up and Coming Published Artist. Fine Art Trade Guild
2007 Best Work on Paper - Birmingham Open, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2012 Best Painting - West Midlands Open, Wolverhampton Art Gallery/Birmingham Museums
 

Exhibitions

2001 Impressions of Birmingham, Halcyon Gallery, Birmingham
2002 Streetlife. ICC, Birmingham
2002 Impressions of London, Harrods, London
2003 Forward, ICC, Birmingham
2005 California, Halcyon Gallery Bruton Street, London
2005 Venice, ICC, Birmingham
2007 Urban Landscapes, Halycon Gallery, New Bond Street, London
2007 Birmingham Open, Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2008 Reuben Colley Exhibition, ICC, Birmingham
2008 The Art of Birmingham 1940 to the Millennium, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2009 Birmingham Seen, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2010 City of Culture Exhibition in conjuction with Birmingham City Council, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham
2011 Reuben Colley Exhibition, Hay Hill Gallery, Cork Street, Mayfair, London
2012 My Birmingham, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham
2013 City Living, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham
2015 Change In the Inner City, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2016 City Living II, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham
2017 Remnant, Bridge Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2017 Remnant, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham
2018 Group Exhibition, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
 

Acquisitions

2002 Council House. Acquired by Birmingham City Council
2003 Brindley Light. Acquired by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2006 Vitil Oil - London. Acquired by Vitol Group
2011 9.45 Church Street. Acquired by Brown Shipley Private Bank, Birmingham
2011 Selfridges at Night, Birmingham. Acquired by Selfridges, Birmingham,
2015 John Lewis Birmingham Portfolio. (A collection of five paintings). Acquired by The John Lewis Partnership
2018 Birmingham Law Courts. Acquired by The Birmingham Law Society