Ruth Benton-Blackmore Artist
Ruth trained at Sheffield College of Art, L'Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Paris and Goldsmiths College, London. In recent years, she has exhibited in Oxford and London. Throughout her career, she has been commissioned by major publishers to carry out illustration and editing roles for poetry, educational, and children’s book titles. Her work is in many private collections and she currently has two works short-listed for the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art, London.
She greatly enjoys recording the wildlife and natural world around her, re-counting the periods of her life she has spent living in the countryside of the Derbyshire Moors, Cornwall and Oxfordshire.
She is known for celebrating her subject’s age and revelling in their vitality, which she feels is often unappreciated. Her subjects are frequently dressed in clown costume, engaging the viewer with an intent gaze, refusing to be relegated to a one-dimensional status. Ruth enjoys exposing the personality behind the mask. Her paintings are frequently humorous, sometimes macabre and always affectionate. A fine example of this would be her piece titled 'Golden Afternoon', referencing Manet, in which she pokes fun at the apparent need for society's female icons to expose their flesh whilst men are considered at their best in a smart suit.
Ruth's love of theatre and narrative has been the inspiration for many of her paintings. Recent series of works have been drawn from favourites such as ' A Midsummer Night's Dream' & 'Alice in Wonderland'.
First and foremost her personal enjoyment of painting, both as a spectator and creator, is looking for the narrative. What is the story behind the painting?
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