Born and educated in Belfast, he moved to Cork in 1974. He became a member of Cork Arts Society in 1976 and exhibited in group shows from 1980 in the old Lavitt’s Quay gallery.  His first solo show was held there in 1985 and he has had seven solo exhibitions with the Lavit gallery in subsequent years. He has had twelve solo shows in the past in Solomon gallery and in 2010 he began to show with Jorgenson Fine Art in Dublin and with Barbara Stanley in London.

In 2006 he received his largest and most prestigious commission to date, namely six very large oil paintings for the newly refurbished Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.  He photographed and sketched each elevation of St. Stephens Green as seen from the inside of the park. The finished paintings depict the West, North and East sides of the green and focus on a number of well – known modern and classical buildings, which are interwoven with the beautiful flowers, trees and ponds of the gardens.

Richardson’s paintings are in private and corporate collections all over the world. Regarding his style, the catalogue notes to last Dublin show, make this observation,

“…it is this term, Divisionism, which best describes his work, with its separation of colour into individual stokes of pigment.  In his scenes featuring water the impression of glittering natural sunlight is achieved through the placement of coloured strokes to create a prismatic effect… There is a fluidity created by graduation of colour, a natural passing from one colour to another without the full-stop of mixing.  It is the resultant juxtaposition which makes the colour vibrate and it is the vibration which renders it exuberant… What immediately strikes one on viewing Richardson’s paintings is their sheer effervescence: they bubble with life. The colours dance and pop across the canvas.”

His work is held in major public and private collections around the world including AIB, Central Bank, Conrad International Hotel (Dublin), Allied Irish Finance Centre (London), Walt Disney World Company and others.