Born in England, painter Martin Gale grew up in Ireland and attended the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Gale's hyper-realist images often feature individuals isolated in the landscape and create a sense of ambiguity and unease. Gale has exhibited widely since the 1970s and represented Ireland at the XI Biennale de Paris in 1980. His work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Academy Gallagher Gallery in 2005. Gale is a member of Aosdána and the RHA.