Painter of meticulous still lifes with a landscape background, inspired by the intensity and clarity of pictures by Juan Sanchez Cotan, a late sixteenth-century Spanish monk. Twelve years’ study and contemplation went into Gales’ first solo show, at Bruton Street Gallery in 1999. His exhibition there in 2001 revealed a new cool, silvery tonality and sensitivity to light and atmosphere, and there was another in 2003. Gales gained a diploma with distinction at Ipswich School of Art, 1983–5, then won a first-class honours degree in fine art at Goldsmiths’ College, 1985–8. He took part in many group shows, including New Realists, Berkeley Square Gallery, 1988; RA Summer Exhibition, from 1991; and A New Beginning, Offer Waterman & Co, 1996.