Ruth Philo

Ruth Philo's paintings explore abstraction through colour, light and surface, often emerging from and inspired by personal encounters with the everyday. Her works, a mix of abstract expressionism and minimalism, combine internal and external worlds to convey a sensory experience. She marries elements of herself and her experiences with literal, tangible fragments and features from the world around her. The resulting pieces, often intimate in scale, communicate on both a physical and an emotional level.

Ruth Philo's Artistic Practice

Ruth has an MA in Fine Art from the Norwich University of the Arts and a BA in History of Art from the University of Warwick. The painting process and the materiality of paint are significant in Ruth's practice. She often mixes her materials from earths and pigments, elements found on her travels, blending them with different binders such as oils, acrylics and distemper. Ruth also works with multiple surfaces, from canvas to linen and wooden panels or paper, further exploring the temporal presence of the artwork. Ruth layers the physical and the metaphysical, the concrete and the abstract. This provision of vastly contemplative works means viewers can dwell on the considerable depth of meaning and origin behind every piece.

Exhibitions and Collections

Ruth regularly exhibits in the UK and abroad, working from a studio in Sudbury, Suffolk. The artist is a member and secretary of Contemporary British Painting. Prizes and hand-selected exhibitions include: the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, British Council exhibitions in Poland and Romania, and Contemporary British Painting shows in China and the US. Ruth also received a British Council Artists International Development Fund Travel Grant to develop work in China on a residency in 2018. You can find her artwork in collections in the UK, Ireland, USA, Switzerland and China. Ruth has also worked on curatorial projects, including Lines for Agnes at St Marylebone Parish Church, London and Ways of Seeing at the Boat House Gallery (NT) in Flatford.