John Hurford grew up on the family farm in Wixon, North Devon where he still works and paints today. He began painting after he left school and quickly became one of the leading forces behind the British Psychedlic Art movement, contributing to the most influential underground publications of the 1960s – OZ Magazine, International Times and Gandalf's Garden.
His hyper-real paintings are crowded with flowers, birds and insects – highly detailed observations from the natural world of the Devon countryside. These are often merged with finely drawn Tolkienesque fantasy landscapes populated with mythical creatures.
A founding member of the South West Academy he has exhibited in the Whitney, New York, Tate Liverpool and the Royal Academy, London and his work is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum London.