Paintings by Andy Cropper

Since 2009, Andy Cropper has been mapping Sheffield in paint, from the charged stillness of twilight to the deep, cinematic tones of the nocturne. Best known for his atmospheric night‑time cityscapes, this exhibition also unveils earlier works rarely or never shown before. Together, they reveal the evolution of his eye and craft over more than a decade and a half. The paintings form a portrait of a city across time, light, and memory: streets that hum with presence, buildings that hold their breath, and Sheffield both familiar and transformed.

About the Artist

Andy Cropper is a Sheffield‑based painter whose work is held in the permanent collection of Museums Sheffield at Weston Park Museum. Since 2009, his practice has explored the city’s streets, buildings and margins. In 2015 his focus became firmly rooted in the hours between twilight and deep night. Born in Bristol in the early 1970s and raised in Blackpool, he studied painting at Sheffield Hallam University in the 1990s and has remained in the city ever since.

Best known for his atmospheric nocturnes, Cropper’s work is informed by kenopsia, the eerie, hyper‑empty atmosphere of places usually alive with people, and by the uncanny shift when the familiar becomes unfamiliar. His realist approach resists photographic exactness, instead reconstructing fleeting moments into textured, resonant images.

His work has been exhibited widely, including at Cupola Contemporary Art, 20‑21 Visual Arts Centre, Mall Galleries, The Harley Gallery, Welbeck, The Cooper Gallery, Barnsley, Bloc Projects and Fronteer Gallery. It appears in Folk Horror Revival Urban Wyrd – 2: Spirits of Place (Wyrd Harvest Press, ed. Andy Paciorek), where he sits proudly alongside luminaries including Will Self and Iain Sinclair. He will feature in the third heat of Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2026, airing January to February 2026.