A native of Saint John, New Brunswick, Gerard has chosen to remain and make his art in the small city he calls home. However, the influences and self-imposed rules which govern the act of painting for Collins arise out of a number of currents in 20th Century art. His educational track which took him to the St. Martin's School of Art in London England, then to studies with Gerhard Richter in Dusseldorf, Germany, finally to a degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia has contributed to the pervasive conceptual bases which underlies his work.

The fact that Collins paintings are quite beautiful seems almost a fortunate after thought. Curator, Ray Cronin, says that, "Collin's practice is rooted solidly in a world of subversive ideas as befits the conceptual tradition. The fragments, the individual paintings are, finally, records of the fact that art has happened. That Collins is a very fine painter is almost incidental." Collins has pursued the practice of rules-based painting since he graduated, and through the course of many series such as the Work Ethic Series, the Harlequin Paintings, the Memory Paintings, Diary Paintings and Factory Paintings, he has continued to create a body of work which, though born out of conceptual strategy, is aesthetically pleasing and definitely beautiful to behold.

Considered to be one of the finest contemporary painters in the region, Gerard Collins has had numerous exhibitions over the past twenty years. His work can be found in many important collections including The National Gallery of Canada, the New Brunswick Museum, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, University of New Brunswick, Mount St. Vincent University and the Owens Art Gallery. Gerard Collins was the 2001 winner of the prestigious Strathbutler Award.