Bio

Ruth Speer (B. 1996, Norwich) is a German-American artist working across painting and sculpture. She splits her time between London, UK and Oregon, U.S.A.  

Statement

I think of my work as a series of personal folktales, a combination of odd utility, scene selections and allegories of something true. I paint on wood for its surface, history, sense of usefulness beyond the work and nearness to domesticity, and often build wooden structures to house my paintings as a continuation of the interior life I grew up with, homeschooled with my sisters in rural areas on both sides of the States. The imagery of mythology and visual language of Western painting history reflects this experience, being the textbooks I consumed most fervently as a child, and which I now use to communicate in my work. Important things involved are: hair, furniture, tactility, the forest, the body, God, theatre, fantasy, “let’s go play outside,” and a personal accord with things that take time.