About

Ruby Read, originally from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, is a painter whose practice is rooted in portraiture. She completed her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2025, following a BA in Painting from Camberwell College of Arts in 2024.

At the heart of her work is a fascination with people. A natural observer and conversationalist, she draws inspiration from fleeting encounters, overheard exchanges, and the subtle nuances of everyday interaction. Her paintings reflect this curiosity, both intimate and confrontational.

Ruby paints with a distinctive material generosity, working directly with oil squeezed straight from the tube. Her thick, confident impasto surfaces carry an almost artificial sheen, recalling the glossy allure of icing. This sweet, seductive quality is disrupted by her use of exaggerated colours and loaded, textured strokes, which lend her figures a semi-grotesque intensity. Her portraits oscillate between attraction and distortion.

Influenced by artists such as Frank Auerbach, John Currin, and Emilio Villalba, Ruby embraces both painterly tradition and contemporary sensibilities. In January 2025, she begins a three-month residency at Tracey Emin’s Victoria House in Margate, where she will continue to develop her exploration of portraiture.

 

CV

Born

2002 Shrewsbury, Shropshire. 

 

Education

2025 MA Fine Art Painting, The Royal College of Art, London. 

2024 First Class Honours, BA Fine Art Painting, University of the Arts, London. 

2021 A levels: Fine Art (A*), Design (A*) and Economics.

 

Solo Shows

2025 Natural Selection, The Gallery, Shrewsbury 

 

Group Shows

2025 An Other Space, IBV Vaults, Park Lane London

2025 Past Meets Present, 15 Bateman Street, Soho, London

2024 Bunny Contemporary, Shoreditch, London 

2024 Infinite Possibilities, The Gallery, Earls Court, London 

2024 En Route, Southwark Park Galleries, London

2023 Sound and Vision, The Bomb Factory, Marylebone, London

2023 Refraction, Bargehouse OXO Tower, London

2022 Reflection, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, Shrewsbury

2022 Parenthesis, Copeland Gallery, London

 

Collections

Travers Smith Collection

Rise Art Collection 

Pilgrm Hotel Collection 

 

Press

July 2025 Blowout Magazine, Artists with Something New to Say

June 2025 London Art Roundup Article, RCA Graduate Show 2025

January 2025 Wayzgoose Magazine, Ruby Read