Born in the UK in 1939 Gentle studied painting, drawing, sculpture and lithography at the West Sussex College of Art and then art education at London University. In 1965 he travelled throughout Europe, the West Indies, Canada and the USA before settling in Australia.

Lecturer in Visual Arts from 1969 and 1994 and was Founding Director of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery. With more than 40 exhibitions to his credit, various residencies including the Royal Botanic Gardens and Hill End his work is held in many public collections including NGA, Australian National Portrait Gallery and the Art Gallery of Queensland.

He has written and published numerous articles and essays on art and artists including:’Contemporary German Drawings’ Art & Australia, November 1983; and ‘Reflections and Metaphor’ Art & Australia, March 1986. He was one of three authors for the Craftsman House monograph Alun Leach-Jones, which was published in 1988 and reprinted in 1995. Member of the Watercolour Institute since 2002. Represented by Wilson Street Gallery.