Jon Groom was born in Powys, Wales, in 1953. He studied sculpture at Cardiff College of art, later to switch to painting. Terry Setch, Michael Crowther, and Paul Beauchamp helped him to formulate his own visual language. In 1976 Groom was accepted into the postgraduate department of Chelsea School of Art, London. He lived in London, Umbria, Munich and New York, spending three months in Munich and nine months in New York until 1990. The work of Brice Marden, Agnes Martin and Sean Scully continued to inspire his output.