Anthony Viney was born in London and grew up in Surrey. In 1976 he became a student at West Surrey College of Art & Design in Farnham. Upon graduating, he moved back to London and became a full-time painter. He went on to study graphic design and typography at the John Cass School of Art, Design & Typography. After several years in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, in 2011 Viney and his wife moved to Cornwall. He works from a studio in Wendron, near Helston.

His abstract paintings respond to the opposing forces of nature at play in St Ives Bay. These he experiences as 'both strong and elemental, and at the same time fragile and transitory.' He shows his work regularly at the Penwith Gallery in St Ives, and recently his work has begun to show the influence of Japanese culture, in particular, haiku. Another aspect of his work involves the use of Japanese watercolour or raw pigments bound with gum arabic, on handmade paper.