Reuben’s images are created at a conversion of memory, imagination and observation. They are a mixture of places, and of the connection these places have with the ideas about what exists beyond biology. Heavily influenced by the meanings assigned to landscapes by past and present cultures, Reuben finds a situation for his work as a ritualistic contemporary approach to this concept. Objective impressionism is used to situate the artist’s place within the ecological reality, strengthening the band between it and what lies beyond, manifested and portrayed using the same drawing process however this time for the imagined elements. The process acts like the mechanism of the sensory processing in the brain. This impressionistic way of drawing the mind’s eye and mixing it with impressions from the objective world shifts the focus from a materialist point of view, back to a question about brain processing. Reuben also moves into interdisciplinary approaches through collaborative projects focussing on the ritual elements of the collaborators and connecting them to painting.
1998 Born in Dundee, Scotland
2018 Foundation Diploma, Edinburgh College
2020 Contemporary Art Practice HND, Edinburgh College
2022 Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art: Painting, UAL Camberwell College of Arts
Exhibitions
2025
‘Divine Wanderer,’ curation by Blue Hour Studio, Rabbet Gallery, London (December)
Press Release View installation
‘Ground,’ The Handbag Factory, London (September)
2024
‘Dissolution,’ Rabbet Gallery & the Social, London [Unaccompanied Exhibition] (November – December)
Press Release View installation
‘Look if You Want,’ curation by Blue Hour Studio’s & Verity Woolley, Peckham Pelican, London (May)
2023
‘SLA’s,’ City Art Centre, Edinburgh (November – March)
‘Enya,’ Rabbet Gallery, London (August)
‘Eleven Twenty Three,’ 900th Anniversary, St Bartholomew the Great, London (May)
2022
‘Painting Degree Show Summer 2*0*2*2,’ University of Arts London: Camberwell College of Arts, London (June)
‘The 196th Annual Exhibition,’ Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (online) (April)
‘We’re Watching You,’ Southwark Park Galleries, London (February)
2021
‘Scottish Portrait Awards,’ Glasgow Arts Club, Glasgow (July – August)
‘Camberwell Interims 2021,’ UAL Camberwell College of Arts, London, room 18 (online) (April)
2020
‘Scottish Portrait Awards,’ Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh (November)
‘CAPsule 2020,’ Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (online) (June)
‘Salon De Refusés,’ Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh (January)
2019
‘Annuale 2019 Brink of Change,’ Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh (June)
‘2 Dimensional,’ Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (December)
‘The Great Big Art Show 2019,’ Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (June)
2018
‘The Great Big Art Show 2018,’ Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (June)
Articles
Sunday National, The Herald on Sunday, Best of Scotland: Ones to Watch, Art and Activism, Andrea Pearson (December 2020)
Awards
Young Fine Artist of the Year, Scottish Portrait Awards, 2020
Projects
‘Macleans Nose,’ Adelphi Distillery, Macleans-Nose, 2023