Gerry was born in Darjeeling, India in 1952, where his father was a tea planter. He studied Modern Languages B.A. Hons (German & French) at Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1970-74. After graduating he worked in Germany and for the Museum of London as an archaeologist for a year, which sparked his interest in layers of time and the hidden history beneath our feet.

Gerry went on to study Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art, gaining a first class Honours degree in 1979, and then an MFA postgraduate degree from Reading University in 1981 which was run by St Ives artist, Terry Frost. . On graduating in 1981, he was awarded a Boise Travelling Scholarship from the Slade School of Art, and chose to visit New York to pursue his interest in American Abstract Expressionism. He also admires the painters Peter Lanyon, Ivon Hitchens, Barbara Rae and Joan Eardley.

On his return from New York Gerry was based in London working as a painter in studios at Wapping, the Barbican and Brixton before settling in West Dorset in 1987. In his studio near Bridport, he makes semi-abstract paintings based on the surrounding Dorset landscape and frequent visits to India and Marrakesh. He gave up part-time lecturing at Roehampton University in 2002 to concentrate more fully on painting.