Colin Brown was born in Dundee in 1962. He studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, gaining an Honours Degree in Fine Art (Painting) in 1986 and then a Post-Graduate Diploma in Fine Art (Painting) in 1987. He has received a number of awards, most notably a major Artist's Grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York in 1996 and in 2005, he was a finalist in the Aspect Painting Prize.
His work represented in many private collections internationally and in the public collections of Highland Regional Council, Scotland; Norddeutsche Landesbank, Hanover, Germany; and Grampian Arts Trust, Scotland.