Painter Ruby Wilkinson approaches art as both inquiry and instinct — a practice shaped by colour, gesture, language and the quiet poetics of observation. With new work showing at the Aotearoa Art Fair and an MFA at the Victorian College of the Arts about to begin, it feels like the right moment to speak with her. “Painting to me is a way of seeing, a form of knowledge and a celebration of being.”
Much of Ruby’s work is shaped by intuition — a process led as much by material and atmosphere as by intention. Her new work, Belle Plaine, is informed by the western skies of Tāmaki, moths as symbols of return, and artists such as Agnes Martin, Christo and Milan Mrkusich. Among them is Marita, a large-scale moth painting dedicated to her late Auntie Min — a figure she describes as “almost dancing across the sky” — carrying with it ideas of memory, spirit and return. There is a quiet openness in the way she describes making, trusting what unfolds rather than forcing resolution. “I often leave a lot of the conversations up to the paint, let the materials dictate the tone of the work.”
Her practice is grounded in an attentiveness to detail, ancestry and language. Much of that is shaped by a growing reconnect with her Lebanese heritage and an interest in the nuances between Arabic and English. Moving cities and beginning a new chapter in Naarm has only heightened that sensitivity. “Like learning a new language, physically relocating can heighten the senses and provide a different perspective of self.”
The everyday also feels part of her creative ground — small rituals and passing encounters carrying as much weight as formal research. A morning plunger coffee with cardamom, reading on the number 11 tram, or time spent in the quiet geometry of the MPavilion by Tadao Ando all seem part of the same practice of attention. Even in unfamiliarity, there is comfort in disorientation. “There has always been something quite reassuring to me about how small one can feel.”
Ruby will be showing at the Aotearoa Art Fair from 30 April – 3 May.
Ruby wears the Teardrop bra and Hi-Cut briefs in Sable.