Ana Ruepp lives and works close to Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Initially she studied Architecture to MA level in her native country Portugal before gaining a Post Graduate Diploma (Distinction) and MA Fine Art (Distinction) at Byam Shaw School of Art, London. As well as two solo shows at the National Centre of Culture (CNC) in Lisbon, she has exhibited at The Zeitgeist Open; Candid Arts, London and Berlin; the Crypt Gallery, London, the National Society for Fine Art (SNBA), Lisbon and at Centro de Estudos Anterianos , Vila do Conde. She also contributed to various publications, including the illustrations for the book 'As Fadas' (Antero de Quental, Tinta da China, 2017) and a dialogue on 6 paper models with the author of 'Less a building' (Michaela Nettell, Passengers, 2021).
Ana Ruepp works on paper, canvas, and builds objects with themes of displacement, solitude, chance, incompleteness, receptivity, and the transition from one sense of state to another. These themes tend to involve a relationship with spaces around her and are based on observations and memories she experiences. Ruepp’s work usually commences in her notebooks that she fills with drawings or collages that Ruepp develops based on observatory and familiar elements surrounding her. Some of these visual experiments in her notebooks may or may not take another form or scale. Ana Ruepp’s work involves exploring materials she has at hand and so she sews, pastes, mixes, scratches, and paints over. It is a slow process and not premeditated. What is planned sometimes turns out differently, as materials she uses often dictate other directions, frequently unexpected. There are several variations of Ruepp’s processes: quick sketches utilizing ink, a wooden tip and stained water; collages, coming from the accumulation of glued rice paper or of pieces coming from other works; at times Ruepp works with remnants, cutouts of other drawings or canvases that are sewn and brought together. Lastly, Ruepp uses scraps of fabric or rests of prior works woven together with thread that serve as support for paint or drawings. Canvases are the result of a maturation and the transfer of drawings made in her notebooks. Some of Ruepp’s works also contain threads or pieces of yarn, which may help creating a sense of rhythm, providing continuity, and serving as a bridge between one work and another. Images that emerge in her work are lonely faces, constellations, circles, holes, roots, arches, cut trees, mountains, lakes, shadows, architectural elements, and liminal landscapes. These images provide a symbolic narrative in Ruepp’s art, as reflected in her frequent use of these themes.
See here, as Ana Ruepp writes weekly for the National Cultural Centre’s blog ‘Raiz e Utopia’.
Here is Ana Ruepp’s work until 2012, see blog.
Individual Exhibitions:
Nov. 2024-May 2025 'As Fadas, de Antero de Quental', Centro de Estudos Anterianos, Vila do Conde
Jul.-Ag. 2018 ‘O espaço onde todos cabem.’, Galeria Pintor Fernando de Azevedo, Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon
Oct. 2013 ‘As coisas estão presentes, a vida move-se.’, Galeria Fernando Pessoa, Centro Nacional de Cultura, Lisbon
Oct. 2010 ‘Escavação’, Galeria Fernando Pessoa, Centro Nacional de Cultura, Lisbon
Group Exhibitions:
May/Jun. 2019 'Re-Assemble', Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
Dec. 2018 Local Anywhere, Sluice, London
Ag. 2017 '31º Celsius', ASC Gallery, London
Ag. 2016 '30º Celsius', ASC Gallery, London
Jul. 2015 'The Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition', Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
Jul. 2014 'The Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition', Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
Sept. 2013 'The Zeitgeist Open Exhibition 2013', Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
Jul. 2013 'The Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition', Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
Feb. 2013 'Candid Arts Exhibition', Candid Arts London
Jan. 2013 'Share and Exchange Exhibition', Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
May 2012 ‘Candid Berlin’, Universität der Künste, Berlin (candidberlin.com)
Ag. 2011 ‘Fusion of the divide. Where Art meets Architecture.’, Candid Arts London
Nov. 2010 ‘Visão . Conhecimento . Expressão’, Inovação e Afirmação Pedagógica no Curso de Formação Artística da Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, 1965-2010, Lisbon
Sept. 2010 MA Final Show at Byam Shaw School of Art, London
Apr. 2010 MA Interim Show at Byam Shaw School of Art, London
Jan. 2010 '126 Days', The Crypt Gallery, London
Jul. 2009 'Don't you wish it would last forever', Byam Shaw School or Art, London
May 2009 ‘Metamorphose’, Islington Arts Factory, London
Apr. 2009 ‘Within Limits’, Kingsgate Gallery, London
Mar. 2009 Group exhibition Concourse Gallery at Byam Shaw, London
Feb. 2009 ‘Over Easy’, Lauderdale House, London
Jul. 2005 ‘VIII Biennale of Fine Arts Cidade de Montijo’