Ruth Philo
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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).
Based in a live/work space in Sudbury, Suffolk, I am currently researching colour and neuroaesthetics, looking into the sensory, physiological and psychological affects of colour in painting and its potential for health and wellbeing. As part of this project I have been exploring the history of colour back to Aristotle and ideas of colour and wellness through the humour system developed by Galen. A pilgrimage to blue, is a site based project that is part this, using visits to sites in Greece and Uzbekistan on the Silk Road.
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'. In 2023 I was selected for the Mark Rothko International Painting Symposium and Residency at the Rothko Museum, 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, London, a 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 and a British Council exhibition at the Palace of Culture, Iasi, Romania.
MA in Fine Art (2011) Norwich University of the Arts, BA History of Art, University of Warwick (1978).
