Approved: 02.01.2015

Ruth Philo

Artist, Researcher

Approved: 02.01.2015

My paintings explore abstraction through colour, light and surface; work combines inner and outer worlds with conscious and unconscious elements. Sometimes emerging from experiences of place and walking, the paintings convey a sensory experience whilst also being concerned with the materiality of paint and process. As Maurice Merleau Ponty wrote 'How would the painter or poet express anything other than his (her) encounter with the world' G A Johnson 'The Merleau Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy & Painting' (Northwestern University Press, Illinois, 1993:176).

Read more ...

  • Location: Sudbury, East
  • Contexts: Curatorial, Exhibition, Project, Research, Studio practice
  • Artforms: Painting
  • Tags: painting abstraction everyday acrylic gesso, painting acrylic abstract abstraction monochrome weather, painting acrylic abstract abstraction water, painting acrylic gestural abstraction flowers gardens, painting acrylic panel abstract abstraction sea coast, painting oils abstract abstraction colour, painting, abstract, diptych, garden, bookofhours, gardens
 
 
 

News

     

    Artist Statement

    My paintings explore abstraction through colour, light and surface; work combines inner and outer worlds with conscious and unconscious elements. Sometimes emerging from experiences of place and walking, the paintings convey a sensory experience whilst also being concerned with the materiality of paint and process. As Maurice Merleau Ponty wrote 'How would the painter or poet express anything other than his (her) encounter with the world' G A Johnson 'The Merleau Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy & Painting' (Northwestern University Press, Illinois, 1993:176).

    I am based in a live/work space in Sudbury, Suffolk where I also run an artist-led project Pasture Project Space, that offers research residencies. In 2022-23 I received an ACE DYCP grant to research colour and paint, with a residency at PADA Studios, Barreiro, Portugal. From this project I developed a montly podcast talking with painters about their relationship with colour 'A Geography of Colour'. This year I'm taking part in the Mark Rothko 2023 International Painting Symposium and Residency at the Mark Rothko Centre, Daugvapils, Latvia.

    A member of Contemporary British Painting, I regularly exhibit in the UK and abroad.  Exhibitions have included the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Jerwood Drawing Prize, Solo shows at M2 Gallery and Westminster Reference Library, Lonfon 2 Person show with Yves Beaumont, Studio 1.1, London, Contemporary Masters from Britain: 80 British Painters of the 21st Century, Contemporary British Painting a touring exhibition in China, Brentwood Stations of the Cross, Highlights from the Collection, Komechak Art Gallery, Chicago, USA,Paintlounge, Sluice Exchange, Kühlhaus, Berlin,Made in Britain: 82 Painters of the 21st Century, Priseman Seabrook Collection at the National Museum, Gdánsk, Poland, Alive in the Universe film screening at the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pesaro Papfava, Venice, 

    MA in Fine Art (2011) Norwich University of the Arts, BA History of Art, University of Warwick (1978)

     

     

     

    CV & Education

     

    Selected Recent Exhibitions

    2019 A Hand Stuffed Mattress, group show curated by Karl Bielek at Terrace Gallery, William the Fourth, Leyton

    2019 Between Us: Biennial Conversations & Exchanges, China & Britain, University of Suffolk, Ipswich & Ex Marks the Spot, Great Yarmouth

    2019 Path, North House Gallery, Manningtree, Essex

    2019 The Colour in Anything, Solo Show, M2 Gallery, Peckham, London

    2019 Alive in the Universe, Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, Venice Biennale

    2019 Contemporary British Painting, Norwich Cathedral, Norwich

    2019 Made in Britain: 82 Painters of the 21st Century, National Museum, Gdansk, Poland

    2019 Painting as Terrain, St Marylebone Parish Church, London

    2018 Local Anywhere, Sluice, Hackney, London

    2018 NEW Painting, Contemporary British Painting, St Marylebone Parish Church, London

    2018 Paintlounge Berlin, Sluice, The Kühlhaus, Berlin

    2018 Estuary, North House Gallery, Manningtree, Essex

    2018 First Biennale Sino-British Contemporary Art Exhibition, Yantai Art Museum, China

    2018 The River Runs Through Us painting, film screenings, text & sound installation, the Boat House Gallery, Flatford, Suffolk

    2018 This Year’s Model: Does the Body Rule the Mind? Studio 1.1, Redchurch Street London

    2017-18 Contemporary Masters from Britain: 80 Painters of 21st Century, touring exhibition, Yantai Art Museum, Yantai; Artall Gallery, Nanjing; Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing & Tianjin Academy of Fine Art, Tianjin, China

    2017 Testcard P, Contemporary British Painting, St Marylebone Parish Church, London

    2017 Ruth Philo & Yves Beaumont: Paintskips, Studio 1.1, Redchurch Street, London

    2017 Solo show Paint Ground Westminster Reference Library, London

    2016 Contemporary British Painting, 30x30x34, St Marylebone Parish Church. London

    2016 to the lighthouse film screening, Radical Essex, Focal Point Gallery, Southend

    2016 Ways of Seeing The Boat House Gallery (National Trust), Flatford

    2016 This Year’s Model Studio 1.1, Redchurch Street, London

    2015 Jerwood Drawing Prize Jerwood Space, London

    2015 Lines for Agnes The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London

    2015 to the lighthouse Residency & Show, grove projects, Bury St Edmunds

    2015 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London

    2015 Stations of the Cross Contemporary British Painting, Brentwood Cathedral

    2014 A Creative Conversation Cley14, Cley-next-the-sea, Norfolk

    Curating/Projects

    2018- Fabric: Silk Road, cultural and ethnographic exchange making connections between the silk mills of Sudbury, Suffolk and the silk industry and traditions in China, with a research trip to China in 2018 funded through the British Council Artists International Development Fund.

    2018- 19 Coordinator and programme developer for first Sudbury Silk Festival

    2018- River Stour Festival, director of new year-long arts festival along River Stour, Essex, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire, supported by Dedham Vale AONB

    2017-18 The River Runs Through Us, Film | Walks | Swims, with sound artist Stuart Bowditch, supported by ACE & Dedham Vale AONB

    2016 Curator of Ways of Seeing, 12 Contemporary Painters, Flatford

    2016- Member of Advisory Group, Contemporary British Painting

    2015 Curator of Lines for Agnes: 9 Contemporary Painters, London

    2015- Co-manager Social media, Contemporary British Painting @PaintBritain

    2012-15 to the lighthouse, residency & collaborative project with sound artist Stuart

    Bowditch, at grove projects, Bury St Edmunds

    2005-2007 Project Developer, Visions of Sudbury, Sudbury, Suffolk funded by Awards for All

    Education

    2009-11 MA Fine Art Norwich University of the Arts

    1990-1992 Diploma Art Textiles (Distinction) Anglia Ruskin University

    1986-1987 PGCE Art Education (Distinction) Institute of Education, University of London

    1975-1979 BA Hons History of Art 2:1 University of Warwick