My paintings explore abstraction through colour, light and surface. They often emerge from experiences of place, walking and the everyday to convey a sensory experience of the physical and metaphysical, combining inner and outer states. 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 interested in the perception of painting as a physical presence in this digital age, as well as its continuing cultural significance metaphorically, to occupy the gaze. The materiality of the paint and the process also play an important role in my work. I often make my own paints from earths and pigments found whilst walking.
My paintings explore abstraction through colour, light and surface. They often emerge from experiences of place, walking and the everyday to convey a sensory experience of the physical and metaphysical, combining inner and outer states. 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 interested in the perception of painting as a physical presence in this digital age, as well as its continuing cultural significance metaphorically, to occupy the gaze. The materiality of the paint and the process also play an important role in my work. I often make my own paints from earths and pigments found whilst walking.
I also work on projects connected with place and communities to engage with a wide range of audiences through events, walking, drawing, film and installation. Recent collaborative work with sound artist Stuart Bowditch includes a film, walks and swim project The River Runs Through Us, supported by ACE about the River Stour in Essex, Cambridgshire and Suffolk and an ongoing film project Fabric: Silk Road exploring connections and silk on the Silk Road between the UK and China, supported by the British Council
I am based in Sudbury, Suffolk where I have a live/work space A member of Contemporary British Painting, I regularly exhibit in the UK and abroad. Exhibitions include Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015, Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015, 2 Person show with Yves Beaumont, Studio 1.1, London 2016, Contemporary Masters from Britain: 80 British Painters of the 21st Century, Contemporary British Painting China 2017-2018: Yantai Art Museum, Yantai; Artall Gallery, Nanjing; Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing & Tianjin Academy of Fine Art, Tianjin, China, Brentwood Stations of the Cross, Highlights from the Collection, Komechak Art Gallery, Chicago, USA 2018,Paintlounge, Sluice Exchange, Kühlhaus, Berlin 2018,Made in Britain: 82 Painters of the 21st Century, Priseman Seabrook Collection at the National Museum, Gdánsk, Poland 2019, Alive in the Universe film screening at the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pesaro Papfava, Venice 2019, Solo show The Colour in Anything, solo show at the M2 Gallery, Peckham, London 2019
MA in Fine Art (2011) from Norwich University of the Arts, BA History of Art, University of Warwick (1978)
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
