Ru Knox
Lee Sharrock
Dance and Dream: Guerin Projects Present Ru Knox
British artist Ru Knox work offers a profound visual meditation on the ephemeral beauty of dance. Filtered through a deeply personal and philosophical lens.
Firstly at the heart of Ru Knox’s new body of work lies an exploration of movement and emotion. Drawing inspiration from the grace and fluidity of ballerinas. These figures are rendered not merely as dancers, but as vessels of meaning, suspended between physical precision and dreamlike abstraction. Through layered brushwork and sculptural forms, Knox translates fleeting gestures into enduring compositions that resonate with emotional complexity.
“In this series,” Ru Knox explains. “I delve into those liminal states between waking and sleep-moments. Where the boundaries of reality blur and the body becomes a kind of echo chamber for emotion and sound.”
This dreamlike approach reflects his long standing interest in hypnagogic and hypnopompic states. Where consciousness is in flux and perception becomes fluid. His work invites viewers to engage on a visceral level.
Ru Knox’s paintings pay homage to both Modernist pioneers and the greats of dance history. Echoes of Wassily Kandinsky’s writing on spiritual abstraction appear throughout the series. Particularly the notion that movement, even when abstracted, contains inner value and emotional force. Similarly, Ru Knox’s references to Degas’s Impressionist ballerinas and the choreography of Martha Graham. Whose revolutionary technique aimed to expose the deepest human emotions through physical expression. Which serve to position his work within a broader cultural and historical dialogue.
“Ru uses dance to articulate composition,” says curator MC Llamas, founder of Guerin Projects. “He becomes a conductor of paint, orchestrating movement on canvas with an emotional intensity that transcends form.”
This emotional intensity is supported by Knox’s deep technical grounding. Having trained in classical painting under Charles Cecil in Florence, where he later became a tutor. Later completing a master’s at the City & Guilds of London Art School, Ru Knox brings a rare blend of formal discipline and experimental freedom to his practice.
Knox’s figures often appear multi-faceted and seen from several perspectives at once, recalling Cubist and Futurist influences, but softened through an introspective, dreamlike sensibility. Consequently viewers are encouraged to move imaginatively through the works, engaging physically and emotionally with each composition. “Ambiguity is essential,” Knox says. “It creates space for the viewer’s own inner landscape.”
Ru Knox’s paintings are not just depictions of movement, they are meditations on memory, presence and the invisible currents of the subconscious. As part of the British Art Fair’s Solo Contemporary presentation, his work offers a resonant experience that blurs the lines between dance, dream, and painting.
Guerin Projects will present a captivating new series of paintings by British artist Ru Knox at this year’s British Art Fair, taking place at the Saatchi Gallery in London from 25-28 September, 2025.
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I’m a Brighton-based curator, writer and Editor of Culturalee, an arts platform celebrating the rich global tapestry of culture. I am also an Arts Contributor for Forbes covering art, design, film, photography and theatre, and I contributes to several arts publications including Artlyst, Artplugged and FAD Magazine.
I also work as a freelance curator and communications consultant for artists, creatives and galleries. I was Head of Global Creative PR for Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide for 7 years before going freelance. I travel regularly to cultural destinations to interview artists and curators and write about exhibitions, art fairs, Biennials and cultural destinations. I studied at Norwich University of the Arts, UCL in London and l’Universita di Bologna in Italy.
Follow me on @culturalee_ or @leesharrock.
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